Mayor Marty Walsh said that recent false alarms and lessons from Texas and abroad are helping Boston prepare for what he considers a low probability of an Ebola case in Boston.

“If we get an Ebola case, clearly we’re prepared,” the mayor told the Reporter in an interview on Oct. 16. “We’ve witnessed over the last few days scares of people who might have Ebola, but didn’t have Ebola. The proper protocols were followed and we were able to transport somebody from Braintree to Beth Israel. We were able to address the situation in Beth Israel and have a sterile, locked-down environment to be able to assess that person.”

“Just going through the motions, we were able to learn a lot from that. The one thing we learned on Boston’s front is that we’re very prepared in the case of an Ebola case. What we also learned is that we have to work to assist our surrounding cities and town to be there for them — and we will be there for them in a situation where an Ebola case might happen.”

The domestic crisis has been localized in Texas, where Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national died from the illness, which he contracted in his home country. Two health care workers who cared for Duncan in Dallas are being treated for the illness, while 43 other people had been quarantined after coming into contact with him. That quarantine period has now ended — something that ``simply supports what most of us who know something about the disease have been saying all along: It's not that easily spread,'' said Dr. Joseph McCormick of the University of Texas School of Public Health.

Boston’s mayor agrees and says that the public— and the media— should be aware of
“More people have died with common flu,” said Walsh. “We have to do a better job of letting the public know. There’s a frenxy right now on Ebola and the media is all over it and rightfully so. But also we have to be realistic about the facts and letting people know.

“I’m pretty confident and feel very good that our Boston Public Health Commission has been talking about this for months,” said Walsh. “No one has picked up on that—but our hospitals are world class and I think we’re learning lessons from Texas and other places so there’s a constant communication.”

“I don’t think we were as prepared statewide two weeks ago as we should have been but I think the governor has made it very clear that he wants better coordination and education and I think we’re doing a lot better job with that,” said Walsh.