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48 in Dallas taken off Ebola watch list; 120 still on

Dallas School Superintendent Mike Miles said the chidlren returning to school after Ebola quarantine are not contagious and cannot pass the infection on.

By Frances Burns
A handout photograph made available by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers as they conduct enhanced screening at JFK International Airport in New York City on October 11, 2014. UPI/Donna Burton/CBP
A handout photograph made available by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers as they conduct enhanced screening at JFK International Airport in New York City on October 11, 2014. UPI/Donna Burton/CBP | License Photo

DALLAS, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A total of 48 people who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of the Ebola virus, have been removed from a watchlist, Dallas health officials said.

The group includes five children. Another 120 people are still being monitored for signs of the disease.

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"There's no question today is a milestone day, a hurdle we need to get over but there are other hurdles to also jump," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said.

Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, died Oct. 8 in Dallas. Duncan had been infected in Liberia.

Among those released from quarantine Monday was Duncan's fiancee, Louise Troh. She has been living with her teenage son in a home in a gated community supplied by the Catholic church.

Mike Miles, the superintendent of the Dallas schools, said it is important to be welcoming to the children in the group who will return to school.

"I want to reiterate also that our students are now cleared and what that means is they don't have the virus, they can't get the virus, they aren't contagious, they can't give it to anybody," he said.

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