The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the exclusive!
Man not worried about Ebola after visiting same bridal shop as Amber Joy Vinson
AKRON, Ohio -- Peter Pattakos spent 20 minutes Saturday in an Akron bridal shop, getting fitted for a tux for his friend's wedding. Thursday, his friend sent a text message, telling him that Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson had been in the store around the same time.Vinson, the nurse who treated now-deceased Liberian national Thomas Duncan, the only person in the U.S. to have died from the disease, has tested positive for Ebola and is currently quarantined. She had spent the last weekend with her family in Tallmadge, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, planning her wedding, which is when she apparently stopped in to the Coming Attractions, Bridal and Formal store on East Tallmadge Avenue.
Summit County Health has asked anyone who happened to patronize the store to call the state health department so as to be screened for possible infection. Pattakos, a local Cleveland attorney, immediately complied, but, shockingly, says he isn't at all worried:
"I didn't exchange any bodily fluids with anyone, so I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm much more likely to be mistakenly killed by a police officer in this country than to be killed by Ebola, even if you were in the same bridal shop."The health department reportedly advised Pattakos to call back if he exhibited any symptoms. However, Pattakos inexplicably is still not worried.
Concerns over the deadly disease, which is spread through infected bodily fluids, have led to business, government and school closings throughout Cleveland and Akron.I suspect Mr. Pattakos won't be appearing on Fox News anytime soon.Pattakos thinks people are overreacting, and he blames wall-to-wall media coverage. He hopes Vinson recovers soon.
"I wish people would freak out this much about climate change," he said. "It's one of those problems that's real easy for the media to cover, rather than some of those other problems that people should be more concerned with."