“I’m a very well-educated, successful, intelligent person. This is insane to me, that I have an armed guard outside my door, when I’ve cooperated with everything other than the whole solitary-confinement-in-Italy thing.”
What a jerk. Here’s why:
A man who may have exposed passengers and crew members on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month to a highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis knew he was infected, and had been advised by health officials not to travel overseas. It was reported that he had known about the TB since January, when an xray from an unrelated doctor visit had shown a small growth in one of his lungs
The man was identified as Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer who returned last week from his wedding and honeymoon trip through Italy, the Greek isles and other spots in Europe. His new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a
CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria.
Speaker flew to Paris from his home in Atlanta on May 12 for his wedding and honeymoon, even though health officials told him they “preferred” that he not get on the flight. Days later, while he was in Italy, he was contacted by officials of the CDC, and was told that he had a rare and potentially virulent form of the disease and should turn himself over to Italian health authorities immediately.
So, being the “very well-educated, successful, intelligent person” that he is, Speaker decided that he wanted to get back to the U.S., for whatever reason. Instead of flying into the United States, where he feared getting detained at the airport, he instead flew to Canada, then drove to New York, although the U.S. Customs stood in his way…
He was stopped at the border, and when his passport was run through the computer, a warning flag popped up, telling the officer to “hold the traveler, don a protective mask in dealing with him, and telephone health authorities immediately.” Speaker was instead cleared to continue, and on his way back to the U.S. The customs agent had said he thought the man looked healthy, and that the warning was “discretionary”.
Speaker finally turned himself in at a TB clinic under a federal-ordered quarantine…of course after potentially infecting several hundred people across the globe.
You know, I really hope that he learns his lesson from all this, but somehow I doubt it.
