The mother of nurse Amber Vinson, the second person to contract the Ebola virus after treating patient Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas hospital, says her daughter has no idea how she got sick.
Debra Berry told CNN Monday night that the way the protective gear was put on and taken off was "extremely thorough."
"They told her she did all of the right things. So I have no idea how that happened," Berry said.
Vinson had traveled from Dallas to Cleveland to spend time with her mother and shop for a wedding gown. Other than that trip, Berry said she and Vinson spent most of their time out of the public having "slumber parties" and watching movies since both work long hours.
It was when she was preparing to fly back to Dallas that she felt she had a slight fever and, following the protocols she had been given, contacted a team member of the Dallas County Health Department. That person contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which cleared Vinson to fly because her temperature was 99.5 degrees, which fell below the 100.4 degree threshold being used at the time by the CDC.
After Vinson arrived home, her mother said, her temperature spiked, so she drove herself to the hospital alone – again, following the protocols she had been given.
"That's when she sounded like she was extremely concerned, of course. But she assured me she was going directly to the hospital, that she was driving alone. And these were things that had been explained in detail to her to do if her symptoms were to manifest," Berry told CNN.
Vinson is now being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, and her mother and fiancé are in Dallas. Berry said she has not been cleared to fly so she can be with her daughter, but said that Vinson is improving daily.
Related Stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.