NBC Anchor Who Defied Ebola Quarantine Apologizes

NBC News medical reporter Nancy Snyderman apologized Wednesday for violating her quarantine for Ebola exposure, saying she failed to appreciate how frightened Americans were of the disease.

It was Snyderman’s first on-air appearance in a month and a half, and she followed her talk with a story on women and depression. NBC had kept her off the air following an angry public reaction to her broken promise: After saying she’d stay at home until the danger for symptoms of the disease had passed, she was spotted in a car getting takeout food.

“I’m very sorry for not only scaring my community and the country, but adding to the confusion of terms that came as fast and furious as the news about Ebola,” Synderman said.

Snyderman had been reporting on the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and worked briefly with cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, who came down with the deadly virus.

“We knew the risks in our heads,” Snyderman said, “but we didn’t really appreciate and frankly were not sensitive to how absolutely frightened Americans were.”

NBC executives have still not said whether Snyderman would be allowed to return at all.

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the December 4th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.