Ebola ‘Cruise Ship’: Holidaymakers Furious Organisers Hid the Truth About Dallas Health Care Worker

Holidaymakers whose supposed vacation turned into a nightmarish ordeal aboard the Carnival Magic ship were furious they only learned that a Dallas health care worker was among their midst by watching the news reports on the televisions in their cabins. None of the organisers of the cruise told them about her.

Passengers got surprised when organisers terminated their tour earlier than expected. But they still didn't have a clue what was going on.

Mike Gray, a 50-year-old holidaymaker, said they were having a great time over at the ship until the sudden change of plans. He alleged it was all so sudden, and yet Carnival, which carried almost 4,000 passengers and crew, didn't provide them much information. They heard differing stories about the sudden termination. "Until we already heard about it on CNN. We heard all kinds of stories - everything but the truth," he told the LA Times.

Stephanie Kirbo, another passenger, said they heard "the E word" only mentioned at the time they finally disembarked the boat. "The first time that word was said was this morning," she said.

Pandemonium ensued aboard the Carnival Magic ship when organisers learned one of the passengers it was carrying was a health worker from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, the centre of the Ebola crisis now in the United States. It was in this hospital where the country's first Ebola-related fatality, a Liberian man, died. The health care worker was a lab supervisor at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who had handled a specimen from the said patient.

During her entire trip aboard Carnival Magic ship, she showed no symptoms but decided to self-quarantine out of caution. Her husband also joined in the quarantine process.

When the ship docked on Sunday in Texas, she was immediately monitored for further signs of Ebola. But her blood test results proved she was negative of the virus and was thus allowed to leave "without restrictions." "We are able to confirm that the (Ebola) test was negative," Kurt Koopman, Galveston County Health Authority spokesman, said in a statement.

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