Ebola Virus 2014 - News Updates In th US: Texas and Ohio Schools Close in Fear of Contaminated Nurse

Health experts on infectious diseases are calling the recent school closures in Texas and Ohio, overkill to put it simply. Although there are only two known cases of Ebola in the U.S., both nurses who treated Eric Thomas Duncan, the panic is beginning to seep into the American public. Before Dallas nurse Amber Vinson realized that she had contracted the virus from Duncan, she boarded a plane from Dallas to go home to Cleveland to plan her wedding.

While in Cleveland, Vinson had limited activity but still those who came into contact with her are being quarantined and closely monitored for early signs of the disease. It is key to remember that symptoms can occur anywhere from 2 to 21 days.

Vinson may have come into contact with some staff members at a Cleveland school and so thus school has been canceled for students while the matter is further addressed.

When asked about Vinson's business and whereabouts in Cleveland, the Summit County health commissioner defended Vinson saying she was extremely cautious. "She was not at football games. She was not at restaurants. She was not at pizza parlors," Nixon said at a press conference. "She was very conscious of what she went through in Dallas."

Vinson received further verification of her cautious behavior from the director of public health in Summit County. "She was a very responsible person," said Dr. Marguerite Erme. "She did not take undue risks. She seems to have limited her activity here."

There are also questions about those who shared the plane ride from Dallas to Cleveland with Vinson. Paul Offit, director of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, isn't worried at all about those who may have come into close proximity with Vinson.

"Those who shared a plane with someone who was infected weren't at risk, assuming they didn't kiss her on the lips before getting off the plane," Offit said.

Offit went on to make a comment about the amount of public fear that is spreading about Ebola, in the form of schools closing down. "This reminds me of the early days of the AIDS epidemic," Offit said. "When people were afraid to buy a piece of fruit in the supermarket because they didn't know who had recently touched it."