About a week and a half ago, we learned that a freelance cameraman working with NBC’s health reporting team in Liberia had contracted Ebola. Ashoko Mukpo, 33, is an American who worked with Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC’s chief medical correspondent, for about three days to film the devastating effects of the Ebola epidemic. When the news came out that Mukpo had contracted the virus, Snyderman said that “my suspicion is he was infected before we met him.” She also pledged to quarantine herself for 21 days, the virus’ maximum incubation period, to ensure that she did not come down with symptoms. (Ebola is only transmittable when a person is symptomatic.) The president of NBC News also promised that Snyderman and the team that accompanied her to Liberia “will not come to work, and they will stay at home taking their temperatures twice daily and staying in touch with the local health authorities for the remainder of the recommended 21-day period.” The quarantine was considered voluntary in that they were deemed low risk to contract the virus.
Snyderman and her team were busted violating their self-imposed quarantine when they were seen picking up takeout late last week in New Jersey. Now their quarantine has become mandatory until October 22 and Snyderman has issued a statement which is said to be an apology. It sounds more like one of those “sorry if you were offended” apologies.
As TMZ reported … Snyderman and 2 members of her crew — all under quarantine — made a food run to Peasant Grill near Princeton University. Sources say New Jersey health officials investigated and concluded based on witness accounts that Snyderman was in the car while a crew member got the grub.
Williams just read Snyderman’s statement on “NBC Nightly News,” in which she says, “While under voluntary quarantine guidelines, which called for our team to avoid public contact for 21 days, members of our group violated those guidelines and understand that our quarantine is now mandatory until 21 days have passed. We remain healthy and our temperatures are normal. As a health professional I know that we have no symptoms and pose no risk to the public, but I am deeply sorry for the concerns this episode caused.
“We are thrilled that Ashoka is getting better and our thoughts continue to be with the thousands affected by Ebola whose stories we all went to cover.”
I’m concerned with how blase this statement is. It sounds like she’s saying “no biggie, but we understand why you’re worried.” Is that true, is this no big deal, or is it a huge deal when our only chance of beating this virus is to track down the people who might be exposed and contain them? It seems like a big deal to me and like this doctor and her crew are not taking this seriously. How could NBC vet and approve this statement? It reads as incredibly rude.
Thanks to Cele Bitchy
