He had hoped to come to the US in June to attend his son's high school graduation, but his visa was not approved until September.
For a guy who knew he had Ebola and found himself in a major American city instead of a third-world rathole, Duncan was mighty resistant to the idea of treatment, as demonstrated twice. First when he quietly accepted that worthless antibiotic prescription on his first visit to the ER and second when Youngor Jallah called the ambulance:
She took his temperature — 102 degrees.“I’m going to call an ambulance,” she said.
Duncan tried to resist. He had been to the hospital once already, several days earlier, and all they had done was send him home with antibiotics. Jallah didn’t listen to him. She dialed 911.
“My daddy is going to the bathroom constantly,” she told the operator, referring to Duncan, whom she considers her stepfather.
Fifteen minutes later, two paramedics knocked on the door. Jallah greeted the two men but told them that they couldn’t enter until they put on gloves and facemasks.
Reportedly, Marthalene Williams was the first Ebola case in the neighborhood. Her family was assuring all who helped that her illness was pregnancy-related and not Ebola. So, it's quite possible Duncan did not know he'd been exposed and therefore did not lie on that form at the airport.
Of course, he should have known. The cabby knew (or highly suspected). But I think Ebola was simply off Duncan's radar screen. I think his plan was simply to emigrate to America, leave his return ticket unused, and quietly become yet another Liberian visa overstayer.