After Cobb Ebola Scare, Cherokee Leaders Review Outbreak Protocol

While an inmate at the Cobb County Detention Center has tested negative for the Ebola virus, officials in Cherokee County aren’t taking any chances with the possibility of being unprepared in their response to an outbreak.

Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison on Friday met with public safety leaders throughout the county to discuss the disease and how it could impact public safety’s response to an outbreak.

Along with officials from the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, representatives from Cherokee County Fire and Emergency Services, Canton Police Department, Canton Fire Department, Woodstock Police Department, Woodstock Fire & Rescue, Holly Springs Police Department, Ball Ground Police Department, Nelson Police Department, Cherokee County School Police, Cherokee County Marshal’s Office, Cherokee County Coroner’s Office and Cherokee Sheriff’s Office Department of Homeland Security were all in attendance.

“The purpose of this meeting was to identify alternative procedures should the detention center be impacted, to establish a working group to review and update the county’s current infectious disease protocol if needed and to establish training guidelines for all public safety personnel,” Garrison said in a press release.

Those in attendance reviewed county response procedures for infectious diseases and discussed protocols should public safety come into contact with a person who is potentially infected. Additionally, a committee has been formed to design training for public safety officials and to create a checklist that would help in identifying possibly infected individuals.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, symptoms of Ebola include a fever greater than 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain and unexplained hemorrhaging. Symptoms usually appear between two and 21 days after exposure, but the average is between eight and 10.

The disease is spread through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids, objects contaminated with the virus or by an infected animal.

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