Social media users have been buzzing about a man with a clipboard spotted helping an Ebola-infected nurse onto a plane.
Footage shows the unidentified man dressed in shirt and trousers, and carrying a clipboard, while health officials donning full Hazmat suits assist Amber Vinson onto a plane headed for Atlanta.
Vinson, who was being transferred from Dallas Presbyterian Hospital to Emory University Hospital, was herself wearing protective clothing in the footage.
Plain Clothes Man at #Ebola Scene Perplexes Viewers http://t.co/oWkDj6Pe0x pic.twitter.com/ecjiXDF1J7
— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) October 15, 2014" data-caption="null" data-credit="null">Vinson is the second nurse at Dallas Presbyterian to have contracted Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of the virus last week.
Dallas Presbyterian has since issued an apology over its handling of Duncan.
"Unfortunately, in our initial treatment of Mr Duncan, despite our best intentions and a highly skilled medical team, we made mistakes," the hospital's Dr Daniel Varga said in an official statement.
"We did not correctly diagnose his symptoms as those of Ebola. We are deeply sorry."
The unprotected official in the footage has come to be known as "clipboard dude" and has been the subject of some tongue-in-cheek posts on Twitter.
Radio host Joe Walsh wrote: "You need a hazmat suit? Nah, I'm good. I got a clipboard."
A spokesperson from the medical airline, Phoenix Air, operating the plane in the footage told ABC News that the official was deliberately not wearing any protective gear. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/clipboard-man-hazmat-suit/story?id=26235850
"Our medical professionals in the biohazard suits have limited vision and mobility and it is the protocol supervisor's job to watch each person carefully and give them verbal directions to insure no close contact protocols are violated," a spokesperson from Phoenix Air told ABC News said.
"There is absolutely no problem with this and in fact insures an even higher level of safety for all involved."
