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Chicago Man Back from Liberia Tweets Out His Temp, Gets Nasty Online Note

By Mina Bloom | October 30, 2014 11:56am
 A Chicago-based freelance journalist back in town after a nine-day trip to Liberia has been tweeting out his temperature as he is being monitored for the Ebola virus by Chicago health officials.
Marcus DiPaola Ebola Fears
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THE LOOP — A Chicago-based freelance journalist back in town after a nine-day trip to Liberia has been tweeting out his temperature as he is being monitored for the Ebola virus by Chicago health officials.

He's also publicizing a Facebook message he received telling him "Next time you go to Liberia, don't come back" — and anticipating more negative comments as he talks about his situation.

"I think people react out of fear," Marcus DiPaola, 23, said. "I understand that fear; I just don't like it."

DiPaola was in Liberia to report for China-based news channel CNC World and other organizations. He said he was feeling "absolutely fine" and did not have a fever.

On Wednesday, in fact, he tweeted that his temperature was a normal 98.8 degrees. High fever is a primary indicator of Ebola infection.

As of 7:49 a.m. Thursday, he reported it was 97.7 degrees, adding "I feel great."

DiPaola said Chicago Department of Public Heath nurses appeared at his door shortly after he gave a radio interview talking about his trip — and noted that he hadn't heard much from local health officials since his return.

DiPaola said it took the Health Department 10 days to show up at the door of his Loop apartment to check for signs of infection after his Oct. 20 return to Chicago. The visit came five days after a New York health official called and promised that someone "would be in touch within 24 hours."

While Health Department spokesman Ryan Gage confirms that officials found out about DiPaola from the WBEZ interview, he said: "We showed up within three hours of actually knowing he was in Chicago."

Also, Gage said the national protocol was different when DiPaola first arrived in the U.S.

When DiPaola arrived in New York, he was instructed to monitor himself for symptoms, and Chicago's Health Department was not notified, Gage said.

Federal rules requiring officials from the first airport to contact the health departments of connecting cities didn't get put into place until Monday.

Now, "when a Chicago resident enters the United States through another airport, that airport's jurisdiction will contact CDPH and inform us of the traveler's return so our team can conduct the necessary active monitoring for the 21-day period," Gage said.

DiPaolo downplayed any concern for his health, saying "if I was a doctor or a nurse and had slipped through the cracks. ... But I'm a reporter, and I didn’t have direct contact with anybody, much less anyone who was sick."

While DiPaola said he's faced minimal harassment since word spread that he was under observation, other possible Ebola patients said they have been mistreated by the public.

Maine nurse Kaci Hickox, who was under watch after treating patients in West Africa but tested negative for Ebola, accused politicians of "bullying" her and forcing her to stay indoors.

Across the U.S., Liberian immigrants — even longtime U.S. residents who haven't traveled abroad in years — have reported harassment, fear of losing their jobs and ostracism by friends and co-workers.

DiPaola said concerns that he could be infected are misplaced.

"From the time my airplane took off, I didn’t have any physical contact with anyone," he told DNAinfo Chicago. "No handshakes, no fist bumps, no nothing. The way we greet everyone is by tapping [the inside of our] boots."

DiPaola, who lives in the Loop near the Ogilvie Station, left for Liberia on Oct. 10, and flew into JFK Airport on the Oct. 19. The next day he came home to Chicago, arriving at O'Hare Airport, he said.

Five days later, someone from New York Department of Public Health called him, saying health officials would like to do active monitoring and take his temperature, he said.

On Wednesday, DiPaola did a radio interview on WBEZ, and within two hours of the interview, two "friendly" nurses showed up at DiPaola's door, he said.

Since then, he said he's received one phone call from the department Thursday morning asking for his temperature.

DiPaola said the Facebook message telling him to stay out of Chicago, which also called him a "stupid f---," is the only menacing missive he's received so far.

If more come, he said he plans to ignore them.

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