Update, 2:35 p.m. Sunday: Authorities say they've located a homeless man who needs to be monitored because he may have had contact with the lone Ebola patient in the United States.
Dallas city spokeswoman Sana Syed said the man was located Sunday, a few hours after officials first said he was missing.
The person is not considered to be one of the 10 people who definitely had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, who remains in critical condition at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
Authorities said Sunday that the man is part of a larger group of 38 people who may have been around Duncan when he was showing symptoms of the disease.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins previously called the man a "low-risk individual."
Original post: Authorities in Dallas are searching for a homeless person who might have had contact with the lone Ebola patient diagnosed in the United States, officials said Sunday.
The person is not considered to be one of the 10 people who definitely had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, who is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital. The man is part of a larger group of 38 people who may have been around Duncan when he was showing symptoms of the disease, officials said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins called the man a "low-risk individual." Authorities had monitored him a day earlier but want to take his temperature regularly to make sure he doesn't have a fever, a possible symptom of Ebola infection.
"We are working to locate the individual and get him to a comfortable, compassionate place where we can monitor him and care for his every need," Jenkins said, adding that the search for the man was precautionary.
The group of 10 people is composed of seven health care workers and three family members or community contacts, said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 800 calls and emails are coming in daily to the CDC on Ebola, up from about 50 to 100 before Duncan was diagnosed on Tuesday, Frieden said. Frieden said he is scheduled to brief President Barack Obama on Monday.
Duncan has been hospitalized for one week and was listed Saturday in critical condition. Frieden said Sunday that he was aware that Duncan's health had "taken a turn for the worse," but he declined to say what signs of poor health Duncan had shown.
Four members of a family who hosted Duncan in their northeast Dallas apartment are under isolation, though they have not shown symptoms of infection.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, members of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas prayed for Duncan, as well as his girlfriend, who attends the church and has been quarantined. They had been planning to get married, various media outlets have reported.
Across North Texas, places of worship prayed for Duncan and those affected by Ebola. On Sunday morning, Jenkins attended part of a mass in the Catholic Diocese of Dallas.
“The sermon was on Ebola and remaining calm and showing compassion and our duties to our fellow man,” Jenkins said. “I know that is a message that is being preached throughout synagogues and churches and mosques in the Dallas County area. So I want to thank the faith community for stepping up … [and] to all of the faith leaders who have stepped up as you always do in times of crisis.”
During a Sunday morning press conference, Jenkins addressed those who are being monitored in case they show symptoms of Ebola, thanking them for their patience.
“I realize that when you are being monitored, even with the low risk for Ebola, it is a very unsettling and frankly terrifying process to worry about,” Jenkins said. “And I am praying for all of you and many others are as well.”
Michael Lively has been found. Being taken to Parkland Hospital. Reminder - his temp was taken yesterday. He checked out okay.
— Dr. Sana Syed (@SanaSyedKI) October 5, 2014
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
