Ebola Update
Central Texas schools close for disinfection after students shared plane with Ebola victim
Three schools in the Belton Independent School District will be closed Thursday, October 16, for disinfection as an Ebola precaution. Two students from the school district traveled on a Monday flight with Amber Vinson, the third person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. The students have not been diagnosed with the virus, but will remain home for the next three weeks as a precaution.
North Belton Middle School and Sparta Elementary (where the students attend school) will be closed, along with the Belton Early Childhood School. The schools will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, as will the school buses, reports KVUE/WFAA.
On Wednesday night Dr. Susan Kincannon, the district's superintendent, issued the following statement:
"Late tonight I learned that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are re-evaluating the health risk to some passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight #1143 from Cleveland to Dallas. At this time, we do not know if this will include either of the two Belton ISD students who traveled on the flight."
The school closures, Kincannon said, will give health officials time to re-assess the risk to passengers on the plane. "The health and safety of our students is my first priority," stated Kincannon.