SIM: 3 missionaries quarantined at RV park in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Three missionaries working to fight the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa returned to Charlotte on Sunday night.

The group is being kept in a group of RV's at SIM's 100-acre campus in south Charlotte. They arrived on a private flight into Charlotte Douglas International Airport at 10:16 p.m., according to SIM.

While they are being quarantined, SIM missionaries stresses the group is not showing any signs of Ebola.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the area the missionaries will call home until each spends 21 days in quarantine, the longest duration of incubation for the deadly virus.

The Mecklenburg County Health Department called the RVs an "ideal area" for quarantine.

"One part of it, is limiting where people can go but another part of it is limiting who can come in," Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director for the Mecklenburg County Health Department, said.

Those in quarantine have meals brought to them and there is a special list of people who can visit.

They can't do things like hug, according to Bruce Johnson, SIM USA president.

"To be able to see what's happening to the people of West Africa -- that breaks our heart. But our spirit is not broken," Johnson said.

All three missionaries who returned Sunday are healthy but are being monitored.

SIM's president said David Writebol is in good spirits and eager to reunite with his wife Nancy Writebol who is infected with Ebola and recovering in Atlanta.

The other two missionaries whose names have not been released are doctors and not from Charlotte.

"They have been working on the Ebola situation for weeks and frankly, they needed a break," Johnson said.

A Mecklenburg County Health Department nurse boarded the plane first to check their health before they got into SIM vehicles to return here.

SIM said it still has more than 100 Liberian staff at its hospital in Monrovia plus two Americans, neither of whom are from Charlotte.

The group said it is taking a look at its plan for West Africa now and didn't say whether any more missionaries would be returning.

WSOC