Wedding Store Closes After Bride-to-Be With Ebola Shopped for Dresses

By Jessica Coen | October 17, 2014 | 2:26pm

An Akron bridal shop visited by Amber Joy Vinson, the Ebola-stricken Dallas nurse who flew to Ohio over the weekend to plan her wedding, has shut its doors temporarily while they figure out what the hell to do.

Vinson was at Coming Attractions Bridal and Floral for “several hours” on Saturday looking at bridesmaids’ dresses.

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CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti reported that the owner told her “officials asked her and a co-worker to quarantine themselves and stay home, but it was okay to come in this day to see a few customers and let in two Health Department workers.”

Younker also told Candiotti that “she hasn’t heard anything from the CDC or the Health Department about the possibility that, in fact, there might have been some additional signs of sickness in connection with the bridal shop.” And “she is still waiting to hear and get a visit from the health department to bring over that thermometer so that she can start taking her temperature with it and they said, quote, ‘to discuss some things.'”

The official story as of yesterday was that Vinson was asymptomatic until Sunday, when she registered a low-grade fever (and was still allowed by the CDC to board her flight back to Dallas). Now, however, it’s looking a little worse.

An official with direct knowledge of the case reports that Vinson herself said she felt other symptoms while she was in Ohio and on the flight home: fatigue, muscle aches, and “malaise” (a feeling naturally associated with impending doom).
According to CNN, “The prospect that she might have felt sick during her time there has led health authorities to reach out to more people, from those on her initial Dallas-to-Cleveland flight to those she interacted with in Ohio.”

Technically, this is the hospital and the CDC’s fault. Officials gave Vinson the go ahead to board those planes. CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden “said she never should have set foot on the last flight at least,” but no officials actually stopped her. The people in charge gave Vinson permission to travel, so blame officially lands on their shoulders.

But just because your superiors — who have proven themselves to be somewhat inept at handling this wacky Ebola business — say something’s okay doesn’t mean it actually is. Vinson is a highly educated women who was handling the bodily fluids of a man with Ebola. She knew the risks. And maybe she actually did think twice before heading out to Cleveland. Who knows. But even if the thought crossed her mind, culturally we assign so much importance to the business of ~*Your Special Day*~ that to put off a weekend of wedding planning is unfathomable.

Vinson is now hospitalized at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Her uncle says she’s “feeling okay.”

This is I Thee Dread, Jezebel’s site dedicated to all fuckery relating to the wedding industrial complex. Got something to share? Email us. Horror stories welcome.