According to Virginia public health authorities, a woman who got ill in the Pentagon parking lot does not have Ebola. Officials at Arlington and Fairfax counties' public health departments said they know and they are also confident that the woman does not have Ebola. They are confident based on her travel history and questioning by medical officials. They also said that she was put in isolation at Inova Fairfax, and medical personnel took all required safety measures.
A building entrance and a portion of the south parking lot were shut down by Pentagon police when the woman boarded a shuttle bus, then got off and vomited.
According to officials, she told them she had recently been in West Africa. The Pentagon is located in Arlington County, Virginia. The county replied with a hazardous materials team, and police cordoned off the area, treating the incident as a possible Ebola case.
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Crosson said that 'out of an abundance of caution', they have stopped all pedestrian and vehicle traffic across 17 lanes of the huge parking lot and the entrance of the a building entrance was temporarily closed.
The woman informed officials that she worked for Total Spectrum, a lobbying and public relations unit.
'The only thing she's guilty of is throwing up', said Steve Gordon, who owns Total Spectrum, a consulting firm. The woman had not been out of the Washington area, he added.
Officials informed the FBI and verified the woman's background and possible travel to West Africa. Defense officials said that seven Pentagon officers who helped the woman were isolated and also the group on the shuttle bus.
