City says stories of Congolese migrants carrying Ebola are ‘patently false’

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – City officials are disputing online reports that Congolese asylum seekers moving through San Antonio could be carrying the Ebola virus.

“Any rumors that they are bringing Ebola or that they have risk of Ebola are patently false,” said interim assistant city manager Colleen Bridger.

More than 250 migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola were provided temporary shelter in San Antonio before moving on to their final destination. Bridger says during their months of travel from Africa to Cuba and South America or Central America, they received health screenings at every airport they went through. They also were screened by our federal government at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bridger, who has a Ph.D in health services research and a master’s degree in public health, notes that the Ebola virus has a 21-day incubation period after exposure, at which time they develop symptoms. People with Ebola are not contagious until they are symptomatic.

“If you do the math and think about the fact that they left their country many, many months ago, there’s no way possible that these individuals are bringing Ebola into our country,” said Bridger.