Doctor Craig Spencer, New York’s first Ebola patient, may be released from his isolation unit in Bellevue Hospital on Tuesday, November 11.
According to the New York Times, Dr. Spencer’s release has yet to be confirmed by Bellevue representatives, but the patient seems to have been recovering quickly, as he was playing the banjo last week.
It is still unclear whether Dr. Spencer will return to his Hamilton Heights apartment as his fiancée, Morgan Dixon, is still under quarantine.
New Yorkers were on edge after details emerged that Dr. Spencer had visited the High Line and The Gutter bowling alley in Williamsburg, among other places, between arriving in New York City and his diagnosis. The locations were declared safe several weeks ago.
The Times emphasizes that “In advanced American hospitals, Ebola has a lower fatality rate than in West African field hospitals starved of doctors, nurses and equipment.”
Dr. Spencer’s reported recovery is encouraging. He received every possible treatment, including a experimental drug and blood plasma donated by a recovered Ebola patient.
