
Claim: The town of Purdon, Texas was quarantined after a family of five there tested positive for the Ebola virus.
FALSE
Example: [Collected via email, October 2014]
News report of family of 5 in Purdon, Texas tested positive for Ebola. Town is quarantined.
Origins: On
The National Report article referenced both the death of Duncan and the illness of nurse Nina Pham as context for the claim about a quarantine in Purdon:
It has been verified that Jack Phillips returned from Dallas last week while on business. Shortly after arriving home, Mr. Phillips began exhibiting flu-like symptoms, but did not immediately go to the hospital. At this time his wife and children began showing similar symptoms, which provoked the family to get tested. Doctors then learned that Phillips, his wife, and three children had contracted Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
Purdon is located just 70 miles from Dallas, Texas, and the hospital that has cared for both American Ebola patients, Thomas Eric Duncan, and Texas nurse, Nina Pham.
It further claimed that Mr. "Phillis" did not encounter either Ebola patient in his travels:
The CDC wasted no time sealing up the rest of the town's denizens, and has stopped all traffic entering and exiting Purdon, TX. As of
"As far as we know, Jack Phillis had not come in contact with neither the late Thomas Duncan or
In just a few hours, the Texas quarantine article was shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook. However, National Report is a fake news site that publishes sensational,
Last updated: 14 October 2014
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