Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose, speaking at a news conference in Banff Wednesday, said “we’re here today first and foremost to reassure public advises the risk is low and there are strong measures to protect Canadians”.
READ MORE: Heath officials reassure Canadians about Ebola after first U.S. case
That assurance comes after a man in Texas was diagnosed with the deadly and highly-infectious virus.
Health officials are making all efforts to restore confidence after it seemingly fell through the cracks in the United States.
A male patient arrived at a Texas hospital last Friday with a fever and abdominal pain.
The man indicated he had been to an Ebola-affected area.
But that information wasn’t properly communicated, so he was discharged.
READ MORE: First diagnosed Ebola case in the North America. What happened?
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Gregory Taylor, doubts that would happen here.
“Once that level of suspicion is raised and people think Ebola, then they would immediately, and I know in this situation in the U-S had the attending person thought of that they would have immediately isolated that person and should not have sent him home.”
“We are doing our best in Canada so that doesn’t happen.”
Currently, Canadian border agents are reviewing quarantine protocols, and health workers are preparing with simulation training.
Ada Bennett, Deputy Medical Officer of Health, says “it’s like a dry run of what we would do if we had a case. So there’s a fake case and we run through the process of exactly how we would respond to it.”
The man is being treated and the ambulance he arrived in has been decontaminated.
The paramedics who treated him were in quarantine but have since tested negative.
But it’s now been revealed the man came into contact with others after his release from hospital.
Texas Governor Rick Perry said Wednesday, “we learned that some school age children have been identified as having had contact with the patient and are now being monitored at home for any signs of the disease.”
Early symptoms present like a common cold, and include a sore throat, fever, chills, muscle pain and weakness.
So far there have been 20 suspected cases of Ebola in Canada, but every one of them has been negative.
Officials say it proves the screening measures are working.
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