"Clipboard man," the only person not wearing a hazmat suit while helping transport an Ebola patient this week, was not supposed to be wearing one, an airline spokesperson said following a public outcry.
Amber Vinson, the second nurse infected with Ebola after treating Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, was transported from Dallas to Atlanta on Wednesday, and video footage of the tarmac transfer alarmed scores of onlookers when they spotted one of the medics in business attire instead of a hazmat suit.
Almost immediately after the footage aired, several observers captured stills from the video, highlighted the man's plainclothes, dubbed him "clipboard man," and began panicking. Naturally, many took to Twitter to voice their concern.
After the panic had reached an online fever pitch and several major media outlets had picked up the story, a representative from the airline that transported Vinson stepped forward. She explained that "clipboard guy" was actually a "protocol supervisor," and intentionally went without the bulky bio-suit.
"Our medical professionals in the biohazard suits have limited vision and mobility and it is the protocol supervisor's job to watch each person carefully and give them verbal directions to insure no close-contact protocols are violated," the Phoenix Air rep
told ABC News.
"There is absolutely no problem with this and in fact insures an even higher level of safety for all involved."
As quickly as the panic began, the rep's words seemed to assuage anxious minds.
Then, as denizens of the Internet are prone to do, they promptly began making jokes.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.