As Ebola hits, New Yorkers maintain wary calm
By REUTERS
Published: 12:12 EDT, 24 October 2014 | Updated: 12:12 EDT, 24 October 2014
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By Edward McAllister
NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - News of New York's first case of Ebola was met with worry and even anger on Friday, but for this city of eight million residents, seasoned by everything from terror attacks to superstorms, there was no sign of panic.
Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, was moved with elaborate precautions from his Harlem apartment to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan with a fever and tested positive for Ebola on Thursday, sparking concern about the spread of the disease in the country's most populous city.
Despite reassurances from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo that it was perfectly safe to use the city's vast subway system, New Yorkers riding the trains were uneasy on Friday. Spencer had ridden the subway, taken a cab and gone bowling in Brooklyn since returning from Guinea a week ago but before showing symptoms.
"I think he should have stayed in his house - he knew what he was doing. He has put other people at risk," said Ruth Bowtle, 48, a paralegal from Staten Island during her Friday commute. Her fears echoed others fretting about using a mass transit system that is the only form of daily transport for many.
"I ride the train to work - I have to. But I am trying not to hold onto the hand rail. You try not to breathe," she said.
Raschell Martinez, a 27-year-old social worker who lives in the Bronx, said she was "very fearful" after emerging from a subway station in Harlem.
"Every time I go in the subway I try not to touch any poles," she said. "People are getting it anyways. And especially the ones who are caring for those with the illness, the nurses, doctors; they are getting it despite wearing all this protective gear."
There were some signs that people were taking extra precautions on Friday morning. Some medical supply stores, including Chelsea Mobility and Medical Equipment in Manhattan, were stocking up on masks, thermometers and hand sanitizers in anticipation of a run on the goods by the public, similar to the response seen during the bird flu epidemic in 2009.
But for all the concern, few were panicked. Commuters clutching newspapers declaring Ebola's arrival piled onto trains and buses like any other morning.
"I'm much more afraid of this year's flu, it kills many more people," said Mollie Kirk, a 29-year-old laboratory worker who lives in Harlem. "People just mis-evaluate probability and risk because the outcome is horrible. You see the pictures in Africa." (Reporting By Edward McAllister, Sebastien Malo, Barbara Goldberg, Luc Cohen and JetBlack Robert Gibbons; Editing by Martin Howell)
