The officers did a welfare check on Petzer after a request from UAMC, said Sgt. Chris Widmer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. Officials with UAMC confirmed that was true, and said they followed protocol. The hospital did not contact the Pima County Health Department.
“The only way we could figure out if it was a real contact to be concerned about was to find out the travel history. That is why the police were sent out,” said Dr. Andreas Theodorou, chief medical officer at UA Medical Center. “The health department doesn’t have the capacity to do that.”
Theodoru said the officers were not breaking protocol by not wearing protective gear. They just needed to stay 3 feet away from Petzer, he said.
A woman, who knows Petzer, had gone to the hospital with possible Ebola symptoms and told hospital staff that Petzer had returned from Africa on Sept. 6, Widmer said.
According to police, the woman said she was a member of the church’s congregation.
The officers learned that Petzer had been in Zambia for about 10 days training missionaries, was not sick, and was past the 21-day incubation period for Ebola.
Petzer, a native of Africa who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, said he was told by the officers to call UAMC immediately and report that he was not ill. He said he understands the officers were doing their job, but he was not happy about the ordeal or how it was handled by the hospital.
“I think this is hysteria, and a zero understanding of geography,” said Petzer, explaining that Zambia is in south-central Africa, about 2,500 miles away from the affected areas in West Africa.
Saying 'it's unfortunate' = moron.
