Elected and appointed officials traversed New York City on Friday and Saturday, visiting the places where Dr. Craig Spencer had been before he showed symptoms of the Ebola virus, to prove the locations are safe.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ate lunch at The Meatball Shop in Manhattan on Saturday, four days after Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer reportedly dined there, and one day after the restaurant temporarily closed for a Health Department inspection, reports the Huffington Post.
Dr. Mary Bassett, New York City Health Commissioner, joined de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, for the meal at the Greenwich Village eatery. Dr. Bassett shared a photo of the event on Twitter.
Daniel Holzman, owner of The Meatball Shop, said there was a line down the block when the restaurant reopened for business Friday night, adding that it was his “proudest day as a New Yorker,” reported the commissioner in a later tweet.
News of the Spencer case, and his activities during the days leading up to his diagnosis, spread quickly through New York City, prompting actions by authorities to assure residents that the establishments the doctor visited before he tested positive for Ebola are safe to patronize.
Spencer rode the A, 1 and L trains Wednesday evening. The next morning he experienced a fever and diarrhea, sparking unfounded fears that other Metropolitan Transit Authority passengers risked contracting the virus.
To calm those fears, de Blasio took the subway on Friday, as did New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who announced last week the transit system would be subject to random Ebola drills.
Ebola can only be spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a patient presently exhibiting symptoms. Officials maintain Spencer did not show signs of the disease until Thursday.
On Saturday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams bowled at The Gutter in Williamsburg, which Spencer also visited Wednesday evening. The bowling alley was shut down Thursday night for a cleaning and health inspection. It reopened a few hours before Adams, wearing rented bowling shoes and using a house ball, bowled two frames.
Dr. Spencer is a Harlem resident who treated Ebola patients in Guinea. On Saturday, he remained in an isolation unit at Bellevue Hospital in New York.
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