MANHATTAN — The Harlem doctor who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Guinea is expected to be released from Bellevue Hospital Tuesday, according to the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Craig Spencer, 33, tested positive for the virus on Oct. 23 after returning to the city from West Africa about two weeks prior. The doctor fell ill with a fever of 100.3 degrees the day after he went bowling in Williamsburg Brooklyn, walked on the High Line and ate in a West Village restaurant.
His fiancée and two friends who had contact with him were quarantined as a precaution.
So far none of them have shown any signs of the virus, and his friends were recently released from quarantine.
"After a rigorous course of treatment and testing, Dr. Craig Spencer — the patient admitted and diagnosed with Ebola Disease Virus at HHC Bellevue Hospital Center — has been declared free of the virus," HHC said in a statement. "Dr. Spencer poses no public health risk and will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, Tuesday, November 11th."
Dr. Spencer, who lives on West 147th Street and works as fellow of international emergency medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, was volunteering for Doctors Without Borders when he was exposed to the virus.
He was not working after his return from Guinea and was checking his temperature several times a day.
Dr. Spencer started feeling better last week and was exercising with a stationary bike and playing a banjo in his isolation room, the New York Daily News reported on Nov. 5.
It was not immediately clear if he would return to his Harlem home, where his fiancée, Morgan Dixon, is still under quarantine, or when he may return to work.
