Passengers on a Los Angeles Metro had a quite a scare on Monday afternoon when a man wearing a surgical mask boarded the bus and began shouting that he had Ebola.
Officials had no choice but to quarantine the bus driver and remove the bus from service as a precautionary measure.
Although the threat was believed to have been a hoax, and the Metro has protocols in place to handle health scares, the agency is still seeking advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with regards to future threats of Ebola.
The bus is currently undergoing sterilization and costing taxpayers thousands of dollars.
Mark Littman, a spokesperson for the Metro compares the resource drain caused by the threat of Ebola to the Anthrax scares of 2001. However, according to Littman, “We are taking it very serious. We want to send a strong message to the public: If you are going to pull a stunt, we are going to go after you.”
According to the FBI, the incident is being investigated as a possible terrorist threat.
The identity of the masked man is still being determined by authorities.
The driver has been released from the hospital in good condition.
Sources
KTVU
LA Times
The Washington Post