He reportedly did not have a temperature until this morning, but then he did. They are saying it was 103 degrees when he contacted Doctors Without Borders to tell them about his fever. They then contacted the Health Department. The help department contacted local Emergency Services in new york city. Emergency services in new york city dispatched one of the 36 teams in the they have been set up by the new York City Fire department to handle first medical response and also Medical Transport for Infectious Diseases and hazardous materials. The Fire Department of new york city has more than 30 Specialty Teams set up to handle difficult situations like this. One was dispatched today. The time that elapsed from when he first took the temperature and realized he had a fever and the time he was in isolation at the hospital appears to have been in total about two hours. After they had him at bellevue, they tested his blood at bellevue. That preliminary test came up positive for ebola between 8 00 p. M. And 9 00 p. M. Tonight. In recent weeks before this diagnosis, new york city has been actively preparing to handle the care of an ebola patient in the event of an outbreak the training here is part of the National Effort to sharpen the abilities of u. S. Hospitals and Health Workers after the experience of treating the first patient in dallas resulted in two misses contracting the disease themselves from the patient they were assisting. Centers for Disease Control held a huge Training Session for thousands of Health Care Workers in new york. Doctors and nurses, and even janitors and security staff, anybody who might need to know what to do and how to handle themselves if they dealt with a symptomatic ebola patient. All of them got lessons, thousands of workers got lessons in putting on and taking off the protective gear that is so crucial to protecting Health Workers and nurses, doctors and nurses from the virus. This equipment in the case of an ebola patient is so intense and so all encompassing that Health Workers are the ones in treating when they are very symptomatic. When you get very symptomatic as an ebola patient, that almost always means you are, unfortunately, excreting lots and lots and lots of body fluids. The risk of death, the immediate cause of death for many patients is dehydration because of the amount of body fluids that they essentially expunged from their bodies over the course of becoming very ill with the disease. Its because of that infectious body fluid that Health Workers come in contact with that there wear this personal protective equipment. Those workers also got a pep talk from andrew cuomo. He went to the training and told the crowd that knowledge and training would defeat this disease. He encouraged them to remain calm and confident excuse me, competent in their profession. Just two days after that Training Session, that training in new york has gone from being preparation to being actual medical practice. At a press conference tonight, officials urged everyone to remain calm. They stressed that ebola, while it is a scary disease and often a fatal disease, it is not easily transmitted. No one who has not had contact with the bodily fluids of a systematic ebola patients is at risk for ebola even though new york city has its first patient. They announced that the disease detectives have traced to him and has his movements. Though that patient had spent time out and about, including going to a bowling alley, officials said visiting the high line. He did do some degree of self isolation in the past week. He did attempt to self isolate, and we are still getting clear the amount of time that he spent outside of his apartment. Our impression is that he spent most of his time in his apartment, and he was taking his temperature twice a day. He was being mindful about contact with people. Tonight that patient is at Bellevue Hospital. Its one of eight specially designated facilities in the state of new york, one of five in new york city specially designated to handle a potential case of ebola. The training that thousands of Health Care Workers went into, had at the Convention Center days ago, thousands of those workers were drilled on those preparations and trainings just a couple days ago. None too soon, because it has been called in to practice tonight. Lets bring in the director of he serves as an adviser to the mayor. He joins us from in front of the hospital. And i appreciate it. Thank you. You are standing in front of bellevue. This patient was taken there tonight. Why were bellevue and four other hospitals specially designated as a place where ebola patients would be handled in the event that one did turn up . The idea here is to make sure that there are facilities that are up to speed to care for a patient that gets sick with ebola. Its a very complicated process. Dehydration and fluids is really critical. This is very difficult to manage. Also Infection Control. All of that has to be done well. On the other hand, the possibility that here or anywhere else, the patient can walk into an emergency room of a smaller hospital, maybe less wellequipped, and there have been claims made to make sure that patients and staff our safe between someone walks into the emergency room randomly until they get to a specialized hospital, whether in new york city or the national centers. In terms of the unpredictability of where somebody might turn up, to the point youre making, Governor Cuomo kept stressing over and over again that every facility in hospital in new york in his jurisdiction is prepared to recognize a patient at risk in to do a correct and safe initial diagnosis. It does raise the question to those of us who are professionals, what the differences between a runofthemill hospital cant do that these hospitals can. There is a certain initial screening that has to be made. If we think back to the case of duncan, when he was greeted at that hospital in dallas for the first time in the emergency room and sent home because of whatever communication problems between the triage system and the actual care system. All those things have to be recognized. I dont think there is a hospital in the country that is not acutely aware of that very unfortunate progression. It starts with every hospital being able to understand when they have to focus in on a patient who might be a candidate for having ebola. That doesnt mean they have to have a fullblown, complete systems and all the Infection ControlConfigurations Necessary in the isolation rooms, but they have to start with recognition and isolation of the patients, calling the right people immediately and getting them out safely transferred. What the governor was referring to quite correctly is a lot of focus on that. Its not even that simple because patients can walk into their local Family Doctor and their interns to wait in the waiting room until they get called in to be seen. This has to go pretty deep if we are going to make sure that we are not having any patients slipping through the cracks here. In terms of everybody trying to get very definitive in terms of when dr. Spencer started to feel symptomatic. People have started to absorb the information that only symptomatic patients can pose the risk to others. How are new york city officials doing thus far in terms of addressing the worries about transmission in the community . All this detail about him going to a bowling alley, traveling by cab, subway, eating at a restaurant in manhattan. The risk of somebody becoming symptomatic today but who may not have been feeling well the last couple of days, how do you assess communication on that and the risk . If you think about what is it that Public Officials should be saying to people . The last thing anyone wants to do is create unnecessary and unscientific panic. What we have to do is be able to present the facts as we know them. As you just stated, the patients are not considered communicable until they develop symptoms. What happened with dr. Spencer two days ago, three days ago, before the symptoms came upon him is something that we have a responsibility to give people the information as we know it. If things change, can we learn more about this disease . Its possible. But we can be pretty confident in saying to the public, we really dont have any substantive chance for getting ebola from dr. Spencer taking a subway ride or even eating at a restaurant unless there was direct contact with bodily fluids at a time when he had symptoms. There has been long, hard discussions about every aspect of this by the city and state officials before they arrive at what is the message to the public. We saw some crazy things, including schools being shut down, schools decontaminated, friends of cousins of brothers who were once in africa being shunned by their coworkers and so forth. The responsible public position is to make sure that the public knows the facts, as straightforwardly and as honestly as to possibly be presented. There is nothing held back in terms of what we know as the facts. Conversations with the cdc, dr. Freiden and all the officials in new york, it was a consensus. Is or isnt there a chance of somebody catching the ball from riding in a subway car that dr. Spencer had ridden on . The fact is, we just dont think that is a risk that should make anybody stop riding the subway. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it. My pleasure. Standing there outside Bellevue Hospital, where this first new york city ebola patient is in isolation tonight. Joining us now from outside dr. Craig spencers Apartment Building is a reporter from an affiliate. Thank you for joining us from uptown manhattan. What has the scene been like tonight . We were told that the doctor locked up his apartment tied and that nobody has been in there since. What is the scene on the ground . Still sealed up right now. Not too many of his neighbors have been coming in and out, but the few that we have seen say they were shocked. They found out that he came back as positive. Some said they didnt expect it to happen in new york city. At same time they said they are not too concerned about their safety. They understand this is only passed through bodily fluids. They would take the precautions over the next few days but are not too worried about their safety. I did talk a couple neighbors that said even though they are not concerned about getting ebola, they are upset and frustrated and incredulous this was able to slip through the cracks, able to fly to the United States and travel around manhattan the way that he has even though he had been in guinea with Doctors Without Borders. In terms of the response, when he called Emergency Responders from home. He called Doctors Without Borders. Doctors without borders called the Health Department, Health Department called Emergency Services. They dispatched one of these teams that the new York City Fire department maintains specifically for medically responding to and transporting people in cases of Infectious Diseases or hazardous materials. Is there any evidence on scene of either that response, the way they have treated the apartment since then, or was the block at all closed off today . It was closed earlier today. I have been out here since 3 00 this afternoon. There were remnants of the Yellow Police tape and some of the trash cans. The super of the building would not let us go inside, but his apartment has been sealed off. There were wearing hazmat suits earlier today. The Emergency Responders and neighbors say that dr. Spencer was transported out of his Apartment Building wearing a hazmat suit. The past few weeks, the hospitals and Health Care Workers in new york city have been preparing for a moment like this just in case. As soon as that call went through, they went through the protocol they needed to make sure this area was safe before they transported him to Bellevue Hospital. Sheldon, thanks for being with this. Talking about the new york preparations there, anybody who either is a new yorker or who has ever been a new yorker can tell you one thing. The last decade and a half in the city, there is almost nobody who inspires more confidence than firefighters. Learning that the Fire Department in new york not only was the Emergency Medical Response Team dispatched to transport this doctor, we now know that initial transport is a big part of what you need to get right in terms of limiting contacts in making sure that Infectious Disease protocols are maintained from the very beginning. Its no surprise that the Fire Department was given responsibility for that. They dont just have one team designated that they have set up in relation to ebola to handle Infectious Disease cases like that. Because its the new York City Fire department, of course, they have more than 30 of these teams constantly training. For dealing with all issues in terms of contagious elements and hazardous materials. New york city is a place, again, if you live here or have ever spent considerable time here in the last 15 or so years, we are of preparedness taken very seriously. When you are surprised about preparedness, it is because you are surprised they have thought of stuff that you would have never thought to be worried about until it happened. We will be right back. [ female announcer ] when youre serious about fighting wrinkles, turn to roc® retinol correxion®. One week, fine lines appear to fade. One month, deep wrinkles look smoother. After one year, skin looks ageless. High performance skincare™ only from roc®. After one year, skin looks ageless. Woman what do you mean, Homeowners Insurance doesnt cover floods . [ heart rate increases ] man a few inches of water caused all this . [ heart rate increases ] woman 2 but i dont even live near the water. What you dont know about Flood Insurance may shock you including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as 129 a year. For an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. Whoamy cuts all better. Re. Cause sarahs mom discovered neosporin. With patented technology. That heals cuts two days faster than store brands. Neosporin. Buy three Johnson Johnson first aid products and get a free bag. Hey john,whoa k it out. Yeah, i was testing to see if we really can turn any device in your house into a tv. And the tablet worked just fine. But i wanted to see if the phone would work as well. So i shrunk sharon. Every channel is live just like on tv. But its my phone. Its genius. Shh im watching tv. Tiny sharon is mean. Im right here. Watch any channel live on any device around your home. Download the xfinity tv app today. We want to state at the outset there is no reason for new yorkers to be alarmed. Ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract. It is transmitted only through contact with an infected persons blood or other bodily fluids, not through casual contact. New yorkers who have not been exposed to them are not at all at risk. We want to emphasize that new york city, has the strongest Public Health system, the worlds leading medical experts and most advanced medical equipment. We have been preparing for months for the threat imposed by ebola. We have strong protocols that are being scrupulously followed and were followed in this instance. Calling new york city the worlds strongest Public Health system, saying that the worlds leading medical experts and most advanced medical equipment are being called on as necessary to handle new york citys first ebola patient. That was the mayor speaking at Bellevue Hospital in manhattan where the press conference was held earlier tonight. Speaking at Bellevue Hospital tonight after the first ebola patient diagnosed outside of texas in this country was sent to bellevue at about 1 00 p. M. This afternoon. 33yearold dr. Craig spencer, who has been in isolation at bellevue since about 1 00 p. M. This afternoon. Bellevue is a legendary institution, not just in new york, but in the United States. Oldest Public Hospital in the country. As such, it has been through hell and high water in terms of emerging diseases and fear of emerging diseases and the real challenges of managing infection in americas largest city in a big Public Health context. When the mayor calls new york city the worlds strongest Public Health system with the worlds leading medical experts,