Neighbor Quarantines Himself After Ebola Exposure, Plans Return To Affected Region

Before everyone freaks out, Ebola has not really come to Park Slope. But man, was it close.

Neighbor Mahmoud Ideraabdullah, who, along with his wife Bisi, works for the local non-profit Imani House, recently returned to the U.S. after six months spent working at a health clinic the organization runs near Monrovia, Liberia. And before his return, he “sat within several feet of a man in Liberia who later died of Ebola,” reports DNAinfo.

So he set himself up here at home for a three-week, self-imposed quarantine. The all-clear date just passed, and he and his wife are obviously pretty relieved, as are all of us who are just learning about this new reason to never want to leave the house again.

While there’s no requirement to notify officials in New York if you’ve come into contact with a person who has Ebola symptoms, it’s a little surprising — to Mahmoud and to us — that there’s not a lot of checking going on between affected countries and here. He told DNAinfo that he had a health screening at the airport in Liberia, but not during a layover in Brussels, and not at JFK.

“I was a little surprised,” he told DNAinfo. “I would have thought that with the crisis as it exists in West Africa, there would have been [screening.] In this epidemic, it wouldn’t hurt as an extra precaution if they wanted to make sure it didn’t spread into the United States.”

Despite the scare, Mahmoud is heading back next month to deliver much-needed supplies to the clinic, which is the only one open in the area. And as the virus continues to spread in the area, and with the economy taking a hit as well, they’re only going to need more. If you’re interested in helping Mahmoud, Bisi, and Imani House in their work in our neighborhood and abroad, you can make a tax-deductible donation online.

Photo of the clinic in Liberia via Imani House