Amidst the hullabaloo surrounding the first Ebola patient in NYC, NYPD officers were spotted dumping their Ebola protective gear in a public trash can on the sidewalk in Harlem. The video, which was taken sometime late on Thursday, was captured by the Daily Mail close to Spencer's W. 147th Street apartment. Watch it below.

The NYPD has sent out a statement regarding "Ebola virus disease safety information" which covers all the basics about Ebola, but contains no specifics on proper protocols for disposing of potentially hazardous waste. We've also contacted the Health Department about their guidelines for people handling this type of thing, and will update when we hear back.

Key Points:

  • Ebola is a severe, often fatal disease caused by a virus in humans and non-humans.
  • A large outbreak is now occurring in West African countries: Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. 8,033 total cases resulting in 3,865 (48% case fatality rate) as of October 8, 2014.
  • The Health Department has developed guidance for people who recently traveled to one of the three Ebola-affected countries.
  • If you have not traveled recently to these areas understand that the risk of exposure is minimal.

The risk and likelihood of contracting Ebola is very low unless a person has direct unprotected contact with:

  • Blood or other body fluids (stool, urine, saliva, vomit, semen) of an infected person.
  • Infected human and/or non-human remains.
  • Items contaminated with an Ebola patient's infectious fluids such as soiled clothing or bed linens.
  • You CANNOT contract Ebola through the air or just by being near someone who has been infected.

If you visited countries affected by the outbreak, and develop a FEVER within 21 days, seek medical care immediately. Alert the doctor's office or emergency room about your symptoms BEFORE going. Tell your doctor if you had DIRECT CONTACT with a person who might have had Ebola.

Symptoms: Fever, headache, muscle pain, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, stomach pain, unexpected bleeding. Hospital staff will not ask you about your immigration status. You will be seen regardless of ability to pay.

For more information, call 311

We've contacted the NYPD to ask whether there are any specific protocols for these situations. But the MTA has sent out a statement about what they have been instructed to do, which includes "double-[bagging] any potentially infectious waste."

The MTA New York City Subway system is safe to ride. The person diagnosed with Ebola in New York City rode the subway several times since returning from abroad, but the state and city health commissioners agree there was no risk to any other subway customers or any MTA employees.

Ebola is spread only by contact with the bodily fluids of a contagious person, and the virus cannot live for more than a few hours on hard surfaces. There is no indication the patient was contagious when he rode the subway. There is no indication he emitted any bodily fluids on the subway. There were no reports of bodily fluids on any of the subway lines he rode.

The MTA has existing protocols for cleaning potentially infectious waste such as bodily fluids from anywhere in the mass transit network. They include isolating a bus, train car or subway car so no other customers can enter, providing personal protective equipment and training for employees who have to remove the waste, and ensuring it is disposed of safely.

Based on advice from health experts, the MTA has updated the protocols to ensure employees are issued nitrile gloves, use a 10% bleach solution for disinfection, and double-bag any potentially infectious waste. The MTA continues to consult closely with health officials and labor representatives to ensure its protocols for cleaning the subway system are based on the best practices for protecting employees and customers.

There's a better than decent chance the NYPD should have double-bagged the protective gear or thrown it out somewhere more secure than a public garbage—even if it was just out of over-cautiousness. But as John Thomas, a professor of Law at Quinnipiac School of Law who teaches a class specifically on Medical Ethics, explained to us, even in the worst case scenario, it's still highly unlikely it would be spread this way.

The best example is to think about the poor fellow in Texas who lost his life to Ebola—he traveled around quite a bit post-symptomatic. He actually had vomiting and diarrhea in the apartment, he slept on those sheets. His family was in the same apartment. None of those people contracted Ebola.

So we know that even if you are in very close contact with someone who is really symptomatic, like vomiting, it's unlikely—unless you're a healthcare provider or actually cleaning up after that person—that you're going to get it. And what I like to tell people is this is only the 18th case of Ebola outside of Africa. We know that something to like 70 to 100 people from West Africa land in NY airports a day, we know that there are no directives to people who are flying, people who travel or go through other airports in Europe. And almost no one's gotten it.

There have only been two cases that had people contracting the virus in the States, and those both were nurses in a hospital that freely admits it didn't follow good protocols. So I think...it's almost impossible for anybody to contract Ebola under [Spencer's] circumstances.