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Health officials to New Yorkers: stay calm as steps are taken to keep city safe from Ebola

Thus far three people have been quarantined.

By Matt Bradwell
Health officials enter in and out of the apartment building of Dr. Craig Spencer who has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus in New York City on October 24, 2014. Dr. Spencer, a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders and who had recently returned from Guinea, was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York yesterday. This is the first case of Ebola ever in New York City. UPI/John Angelillo
1 of 5 | Health officials enter in and out of the apartment building of Dr. Craig Spencer who has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus in New York City on October 24, 2014. Dr. Spencer, a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders and who had recently returned from Guinea, was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York yesterday. This is the first case of Ebola ever in New York City. UPI/John Angelillo | License Photo

NEW YORK, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Civic leaders and health officials are urging New Yorkers to stay calm as authorities take the necessary steps to ensure Dr. Craig Spencer's Ebola diagnosis is not the start of a citywide outbreak.

"Being New Yorkers, a little anxiety can keep you safe," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reassured the public.

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"It's not a bad thing. But undue anxiety is unproductive."

Spencer was treating Ebola patients in Guinea until his return to the U.S. on Oct. 17. On Wednesday, the night before he reported symptoms of a fever, Spencer rode a series of subway lines from Manhattan to Brooklyn, went bowling in Williamsburg and took an Uber cab home.

Health officials confirmed the account of Spencer's movements on Wednesday, and the Doctors Without Borders physician insists he was not symptomatic until Thursday.

Additionally, reports that Spencer's fever was 103 degrees are incorrect -- he only recorded a temperature of 100.3. The New York City Department of Health misreported the number, chalking the error up to a miscommunication.

Three people, Spencer's fiancee and two friends, have been quarantined at Bellevue Hospital, and health officials plan to visit the Williamsburg bowling alley to determine if there's any chance the staff had infectious contact with Spencer or those with him.

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"There is the pure science in terms of what we know and what can come from [questioning bowling alley employees]," Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and a special adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio, told the New York Times.

"On the other end of the spectrum, there is the world of abundance of caution. Public officials are constantly trying to find the right balance."

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