Amber Vinson, one of two nurses who contracted Ebola while treating a Liberian man earlier this month, will be discharged from an Atlanta hospital this afternoon after tests showed that she is free of the virus.
A spokeswoman at Emory told The Associated Press that Vinson will be going home after she appears at a 1 p.m. ET news conference at the hospital.
Vinson, 29, is expected to make a statement at Emory University Hospital, where she had been treated for nearly two weeks.
The nurse became infected at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas while caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who was diagnosed with Ebola after arriving in the U.S. He died on Oct. 8.
A co-worker, nurse Nina Pham, also became infected treating Duncan. Pham, 26, was discharged last week from a facility at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., after testing Ebola-free.
Vinson was taken to Emory on Oct. 15 after becoming symptomatic on a commercial flight from Cleveland to Dallas after a three-day trip to Ohio to plan her wedding and visit family.
None of those who had contact with Vinson during the period she was symptomatic have shown any sign of the disease, which has a 21-day incubation period. The "contact list" of people possibly exposed to the disease through Vinson is set to expire between Oct. 31 and Nov. 4.
As The Associated Press notes, it's still not clear how Vinson and Pham became infected: "Vinson attended to Duncan on Sept. 30, the day he tested positive for Ebola, according to medical records that Duncan's family released to The Associated Press. Like Pham, the reports note that Vinson wore protective gear and a face shield, hazardous materials suit, and protective footwear. At the time, Duncan's body fluids were highly infectious if someone made contact with them. At one point, Vinson inserted a catheter into Duncan."
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