FILE - In this Tuesday, April 10, 2001 file photo, pop singer Christina Aguilera accepts her award for favorite female artist of the year from presenter Michael Clarke Duncan at the Seventh Annual Blockbuster... (Associated Press) 
 
 Michael Clarke Duncan was one big, irresistible jumble of contradictions. 
 
 His presence was formidable, even intimidating: The former bodyguard had a muscular, 6-foot-4 frame, but it was topped by the brightest of megawatt smiles. 
 
 His gravelly baritone was well-suited to everything from animated films to action spectacles, but no matter the role, a warmth and a sweetness was always evident underneath. 
 
 The prolific character actor, whose dozens of movies included an Oscar-nominated performance as a death row inmate in "The Green Mile" and box office hits including "Armageddon," `'Planet of the Apes" and "Kung Fu Panda," died Monday at age 54. And although he only turned to acting in his 30s, it's clear from the outpouring of prayers and remembrances he received across the Hollywood and sports worlds that his gentle-giant persona made him much-loved during that relatively brief time. 
 
 Duncan died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fianc??e, Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily. 
 
 Duncan "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," the statement said. "Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date." 
 
 Tom Hanks, star of 1999's "The Green Mile" _ the film that earned a then-little-known Duncan a supporting-actor nomination at the Academy Awards _ said he was "terribly saddened at the loss of Big Mike. He was the treasure we all discovered on the set of `The Green Mile.' He was magic. He was a big love of man and his passing leaves us stunned." 
 
 "I will miss my friend, Michael Clarke Duncan," comedian and talk-show host Steve Harvey said on Twitter. "What an incredible soldier in God's Plan." Other sad and shocked reactions came from a diverse field that included Dallas Mavericks basketball team owner Mark Cuban, actresses Alexa Vega, Niecy Nash and Olivia Munn, and former boxing champion Lennox Lewis. 
 
 In the spring of 2012, Duncan had appeared in a video for PETA, the animal rights organization, in which he spoke of how much better he felt since becoming a vegetarian three years earlier. 
 
 "I cleared out my refrigerator, about $5,000 worth of meat," he said. "I'm a lot healthier than I was when I was eating meat." 
 
 Duncan had a handful of minor roles before "The Green Mile" brought him accolades and fame. The 1999 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, starred Hanks as a corrections officer at a penitentiary in the 1930s. Duncan played John Coffey, a convicted murderer with a surprisingly gentle demeanor and extraordinary healing powers. 
 
 Duncan's performance caught on with critics and moviegoers and he quickly became a favorite in Hollywood, appearing in several films a year. He owed some of his good fortune to Bruce Willis, who recommended Duncan for "The Green Mile" after the two appeared together in "Armageddon." Duncan would work with Willis again in "Breakfast of Champions," `'The Whole Nine Yards" and "Sin City." 
 
 His industrial-sized build was suited for everything from superhero films ("Daredevil") to comedy ("Talladega Nights," `'School for Scoundrels"). He could have made a career out of his voice work alone, with appearances in several animated and family movies, including, "Kung Fu Panda," `'Racing Stripes" and "Brother Bear." Among Duncan's television credits were "The Apprentice," `'Two and a Half Men," `'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and a new series, "The Finder." 
 
 Born in Chicago in 1957, Duncan was raised by a single mother whose resistance to his playing football led to his deciding he wanted to become an actor. But when his mother became ill, he dropped out of college, Alcorn State University, and worked as a ditch digger and bouncer to support her. By his mid-20s, he was in Los Angeles, where he looked for acting parts and became a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and other stars. The murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., for whom Duncan had been hired to protect before switching assignments, led him to quit his job and pursue acting full-time. 
 
 Early film and television credits, when he was usually cast as a bodyguard or bouncer, included "Bulworth," `'A Night at the Roxbury" and "The Players Club." 
 
 ___ 
 
 AP Writers Steve Loeper and Hillel Italie contributed to this report. ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 DALLAS — At least one chapter of the Ebola saga neared a close Sunday, as most of the dozens of people who had direct or indirect contact here with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola, had been told by officials that they were no longer at risk of contracting the disease. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mr. Duncan’s fiancée, Louise Troh, who nursed him in their cramped apartment while he suffered from diarrhea and who was put under state-ordered quarantine, was set to be declared Ebola-free by officials at the end of Sunday. So, too, were the paramedics who drove an ailing Mr. Duncan to a hospital and health care workers who drew or processed his blood. And a mandatory quarantine was lifted for a homeless man who later rode in the same ambulance as Mr. Duncan before it was disinfected. 
 
 The 21-day monitoring period ended Sunday and Monday for nearly all the roughly 50 people. It concluded as federal health officials were tightening the guidelines for the protective gear worn by health care workers treating Ebola patients. 
 
 Two nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who treated Mr. Duncan — Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson — have contracted Ebola. Although officials have not determined how the nurses became infected, they have focused on the women’s use of personal protective gear. 
 
 In an appearance on Sunday on the news talk show “Meet the Press,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said new federal guidelines for hospitals would be issued requiring personal protective equipment that completely covers the skin. He said the previous recommendations had been based on a World Health Organization protocol designed for treating people in Africa and not for American hospital settings. 
 
 “It became clear that we needed to modify that protocol where no part of the body is exposed,” Dr. Fauci said. 
 
 At the Pentagon, officials announced that they were forming a 30-person military medical team to respond to any additional Ebola cases in the United States and “provide short-notice assistance to civilian medical professionals.” 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Continue reading the main story When Did Ebola Arrive and Spread at a Dallas Hospital? Timelines of the three people in Dallas who have been diagnosed with Ebola. Full Q. and A. » Thomas Eric Duncan Nina Pham Amber Joy Vinson Sept. 20 Arrives in Dallas from Liberia 24 Develops symptoms. Sept. 28-30 High risk period when Pham and Vinson were treating Duncan. 30 Ebola test confirmed. Oct. 8 Dies. Oct. 10 Flies to Cleveland. Oct. 11 Ebola test confirmed. 13 Flies back to Dallas. 15 Ebola test confirmed. High risk period when Pham and Vinson were treating Duncan. Thomas Eric Duncan Fri. Sat. Nina Pham Sept. 19 20 Amber Joy Vinson Leaves Liberia. Arrives in Dallas. Sun. Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Develops symptoms. Visits hospital. 28 29 30 Oct. 1 2 3 4 Returns to hospital. Ebola test confirmed. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Flies to Cleveland. Ebola test confirmed. Dies. 12 13 14 15 Flies back to Dallas. Ebola test confirmed. 
 
 Relatives of Ms. Vinson, one of the nurses treated, said in a statement Sunday that she had been cleared to travel by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before her Oct. 10 flight from Dallas to Cleveland, and by Dallas County health officials before her flight from Cleveland to Dallas last Monday. Before boarding her return flight, she reported her temperature three times, and each time was cleared to fly, her family said. 
 
 Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the C.D.C., had publicly stated that because Ms. Vinson was being monitored, she should not have boarded the return flight, although it later became clear that the agency had allowed her to fly. 
 
 “Suggestions that she ignored any of the physician and government-provided protocols recommended to her are patently untrue and hurtful,” the statement read. “She has not and would not knowingly expose herself or anyone else.” 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 In a statement, Ms. Troh expressed relief that the Ebola threat in the Texas cases was drawing to a close, but sadness over the death of Mr. Duncan. 
 
 “We are so happy this is coming to an end, and we are so grateful that none of us has shown any sign of illness,” Ms. Troh said in the statement. “We have lost so much, but we have our lives and we have our faith in God, which always gives us hope. Even though the quarantine is over, our time of mourning is not over. Because of that, we ask to be given privacy as we seek to rebuild our home, our family and our daily living.” 
 
 Ms. Troh — along with her 13-year-old son, Timothy, and the two young men who shared the apartment with her and Mr. Duncan — were removed from the contaminated apartment several days after Mr. Duncan was hospitalized. They were moved to a residence provided by a local benefactor. Local leaders and Ms. Troh’s pastor, the Rev. George Mason, had been looking for a place for them to move but had trouble finding a landlord willing to rent to them. They appeared to have found a single-family rental home for them to move into temporarily. Their old apartment was gutted, and many of their personal belongings were incinerated. “What she wants more than anything else is to get out of there with those boys and, in her language, be an American,” the pastor said. “She’s an American and she wants to live her life and be respected because she’s done nothing wrong.” 
 
 An unnamed Dallas philanthropist plans to donate tens of thousands of dollars to Ms. Troh, the officials said. Michael Wayne Lively, 52, never met Mr. Duncan, but he rode in Ambulance No. 37, and that was all it took to drastically change his life for three weeks. Paramedics used that ambulance to ferry Mr. Duncan to Presbyterian on Sept. 28, but before it was taken out of service and decontaminated, they answered the call to pick up Mr. Lively. 
 
 Continue reading the main story More Ebola Coverage 
 
 Originally from Lumberton, Miss., Mr. Lively has been a homeless drifter in Dallas for years. After Mr. Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola, Mr. Lively was being monitored but went missing for a time, spreading fear throughout Dallas that a man at risk of Ebola was wandering the city. He was found, and handed a state-issued order forbidding him from leaving Presbyterian hospital and from receiving any visitors without prior approval. 
 
 The order — known as a communicable disease control order — was similar to the one handed Ms. Troh and the three others in the apartment. If Mr. Lively and the others did not comply, they were threatened with criminal prosecution or civil court proceedings. Officials said a total of seven people have received the orders in Dallas — Ms. Troh and the three others; Mr. Lively; and two community members. 
 
 All of those whose monitoring was coming to an end had been potentially exposed to Mr. Duncan before he was admitted and put into isolation at the hospital on Sept. 28. They have been released from monitoring in stages. At least 14 of them had been released by Saturday. Others were released Sunday afternoon and some, like Ms. Troh, were released midnight Sunday. A few others may be released after Monday, officials said. 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 “It’s a significant hurdle for us to get over,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said. “It brings a little bounce in our step, because we know the science is working.” 
 
 The Ebola virus has an average eight-day to 10-day incubation period, but federal health officials recommend monitoring exposed people for symptoms for 21 days. 
 
 Dozens of others continue to be monitored. On Sunday, federal officials released updated numbers and said they were monitoring 149 people total, including the contacts of Mr. Duncan as well of Ms. Pham and Ms. Vinson. Most of those 149 are health care workers who treated Mr. Duncan. But some of them are passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight that Ms. Vinson took from Cleveland to Dallas the day before she showed symptoms. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said passengers on that flight, and those on Ms. Vinson’s first flight from Dallas to Cleveland, were at low risk. 
 
 Ohio health officials reported Sunday that they had been in touch with 153 people across 16 counties who might have contacted Ms. Vinson during her visit there around the time Ms. Pham was diagnosed, but before it was determined that she, too, had Ebola. None of the 153 had been diagnosed with Ebola, but three were under quarantine, the state reported. It was unclear whether the Ohio numbers were included in or separate from the federal monitoring. 
 
 At Summa Akron City Hospital, workers have been practicing their response to an Ebola case. In addition to planned drills, doctors said, there have already been two false alarms in which Summa patients believed themselves to be at risk for Ebola but turned out not to be. 
 
 In Spain, officials said Sunday that tests showed that a nursing assistant who had been infected with Ebola has no traces of the virus left in her bloodstream. The medical worker, Teresa Romero, 44, contracted Ebola after caring for priests who got Ebola while doing missionary work in West Africa. Officials said Ms. Romero must undergo at least one more Ebola test to make sure she is virus free. ||||| Story highlights United Airlines is reaching out to passengers on flights with the patient 
 
 Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, is the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States 
 
 Duncan had a fever, was vomiting when he went to a hospital; he was sent home 
 
 Liberian man was admitted to the same Dallas hospital, isolated days later 
 
 Thomas Eric Duncan left Africa for the United States, by official accounts, a healthy man. But within days after his arrival in Texas, things changed for him, for the worst. 
 
 So who is Duncan, besides the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States ? When did he start to feel sick, and what happened to him next? And who did he come in contact with, in the meantime? 
 
 Who is Thomas Eric Duncan? 
 
 JUST WATCHED Father of quarantined child: 'I'm scared' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Father of quarantined child: 'I'm scared' 02:56 
 
 He is a 42-year-old Liberian citizen, said a friend who knows him well but asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of his case. Duncan's Facebook page indicates that he's from the Liberian capital of Monrovia, where he attended E. Jonathan Goodridge High School. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Mayor: Victim had contact with 20 people Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Mayor: Victim had contact with 20 people 04:15 
 
 Why did he come to the United States? 
 
 To visit family and friends, according to the friend, who noted this was Duncan's first trip to America. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Thomas Frieden has said that Duncan was "staying with family members who live in this country." 
 
 Duncan was visiting his son and his son's mother in Dallas, according to Wilfred Smallwood, Duncan's half-brother. 
 
 When did Duncan leave Liberia? 
 
 He departed the West African nation on September 19, Frieden says. 
 
 How did he get Ebola? 
 
 Authorities haven't said. 
 
 Witnesses say Duncan had been helping Ebola patients in Liberia. Liberian community leader Tugbeh Chieh Tugbeh said Duncan was caring for an Ebola-infected patient at a residence in Paynesville City, just outside Monrovia. 
 
 The New York Times reported Thursday that Duncan had direct contact with a pregnant woman stricken with Ebola on September 15, days before he left for the United States. Citing the woman's parents and Duncan's neighbors in Monrovia, Liberia, the newspaper said Duncan had helped carry the ailing woman home after a hospital turned her away because there wasn't enough space in its Ebola treatment ward. 
 
 A CDC spokesman told CNN on Wednesday that he hadn't seen the newspaper's report and couldn't comment. 
 
 Was he screened for Ebola before getting on the plane? 
 
 Yes, according to Binyah Kesselly, board chairman of the Liberia Airport Authority. 
 
 "The first screening was at the gate, before you get to the parking lot. The second time is before you enter the terminal building and the third is before you board the flight. At every point your temperature is scanned." 
 
 His temperature at those checkpoints was a consistent 97.3 degrees Fahrenheit, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Thomas Frieden told reporters Thursday. 
 
 On a health screening questionnaire, Duncan answered "no" to questions about whether he had cared for a patient with the deadly virus and whether he had touched the body of someone who died in an area affected by the disease, Kesselly said. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Will US ban travel from Ebola hotspots? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Will US ban travel from Ebola hotspots? 04:04 
 
 JUST WATCHED Ebola survivor: Don't give up Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Ebola survivor: Don't give up 00:43 
 
 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Photos: The Ebola epidemic An Ebola survivor participates in a study in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 17. The country launched a five-year study to unravel the mystery of the long-term health effects that plague survivors of the viral disease. Since the epidemic started more than a year ago in a remote village in Guinea, more than 11,000 people have died, the vast majority in three West African nations, according to the latest numbers from the World Health Organization . And that number is believed to be low, since there was widespread under-reporting of cases, according to WHO. Hide Caption 1 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Women in Monrovia celebrate after the World Health Organization declared Liberia Ebola-free on May 9. Other cases have recurred since, however. Two people in Liberia have died of the disease since the end of June, just weeks after the WHO declared the nation free of the disease. Hide Caption 2 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man walks past an Ebola awareness painting in Monrovia on March 22. Hide Caption 3 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division walk across the tarmac at Campbell Army Airfield before reuniting with their families at a homecoming ceremony March 21 in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 162 soldiers were deployed in Liberia, where they helped fight the spread of Ebola. Hide Caption 4 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Relatives weep for a loved one who it was believed died from Ebola, at a graveyard on the outskirts of Monrovia on March 11. Hide Caption 5 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Doctors Without Borders staffer Alex Eilert Paulsen watches as mattresses and bed frames burn at the Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Liberia, on January 31. The organization reduced its number of beds from 250 to 30 as gains were made in battling the virus. Hide Caption 6 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish woman diagnosed with Ebola, is put on a plane in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 30, 2014. Cafferkey, a 39-year-old nurse who volunteered in Sierra Leone, was being transported to London for treatment. Hide Caption 7 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A child who survived the Ebola virus is fed by another survivor at a treatment center on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, on November 11, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers in Monrovia cover the body of a man suspected of dying from the Ebola virus on October 31, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Kaci Hickox leaves her home in Fort Kent, Maine, to take a bike ride with her boyfriend on October 30, 2014. Hickox, a nurse, recently returned to the United States from West Africa, where she treated Ebola victims. State authorities wanted her to avoid public places for 21 days -- the virus' incubation period. But Hickox, who twice tested negative for Ebola, said she would defy efforts to keep her quarantined at home. Hide Caption 10 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health officials in Nairobi, Kenya, prepare to screen passengers arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on October 28, 2014. Hide Caption 11 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic U.S. President Barack Obama hugs Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House on October 24, 2014. Pham, one of two Dallas nurses diagnosed with the virus, was declared Ebola-free after being treated at a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The other nurse, Amber Vinson (not pictured), was treated in Atlanta and also declared Ebola-free. Hide Caption 12 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers in Port Loko, Sierra Leone, transport the body of a person who is suspected to have died of Ebola on October 21, 2014. Hide Caption 13 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers bury a body on the outskirts of Monrovia on October 20, 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Garteh Korkoryah, center, is comforted during a memorial service for her son, Thomas Eric Duncan, on October 18, 2014, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian citizen, died October 8 in a Dallas hospital. He was in the country to visit his son and his son's mother, and he was the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola. Hide Caption 15 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Boys run from blowing dust as a U.S. military aircraft leaves the construction site of an Ebola treatment center in Tubmanburg, Liberia, on October 15, 2014. Hide Caption 16 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Aid workers from the Liberian Medical Renaissance League stage an Ebola awareness event October 15, 2014, in Monrovia. The group performs street dramas throughout Monrovia to educate the public on Ebola symptoms and how to handle people who are infected with the virus. Hide Caption 17 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Ebola survivors prepare to leave a Doctors Without Borders treatment center after recovering from the virus in Paynesville, Liberia, on October 12, 2014. Hide Caption 18 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man dressed in protective clothing treats the front porch of a Dallas apartment on October 12, 2014. The apartment is home to one of the two nurses who were diagnosed with Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who traveled to Dallas and later died from the virus. Hide Caption 19 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A woman crawls toward the body of her sister as a burial team takes her away for cremation October 10, 2014, in Monrovia. The sister had died from Ebola earlier in the morning while trying to walk to a treatment center, according to her relatives. Hide Caption 20 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man digs a grave on October 7, 2014, outside an Ebola treatment center near Gbarnga, Liberia. Hide Caption 21 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A person peeks out from the Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States, was staying on October 3, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A girl cries as community activists approach her outside her Monrovia home on October 2, 2014, a day after her mother was taken to an Ebola ward. Hide Caption 23 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health official uses a thermometer September 29, 2014, to screen a Ukrainian crew member on the deck of a cargo ship at the Apapa port in Lagos, Nigeria. Hide Caption 24 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Workers move a building into place as part of a new Ebola treatment center in Monrovia on September 28, 2014. Hide Caption 25 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Medics load an Ebola patient onto a plane at Sierra Leone's Freetown-Lungi International Airport on September 22, 2014. Hide Caption 26 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A few people are seen in Freetown during a three-day nationwide lockdown on September 21, 2014. In an attempt to curb the spread of the Ebola virus, people in Sierra Leone were told to stay in their homes. Hide Caption 27 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Supplies wait to be loaded onto an aircraft at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 20, 2014. It was the largest single shipment of aid to the Ebola zone to date, and it was coordinated by the Clinton Global Initiative and other U.S. aid organizations. Hide Caption 28 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A child stops on a Monrovia street September 12, 2014, to look at a man who is suspected of suffering from Ebola. Hide Caption 29 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic After an Ebola case was confirmed in Senegal, people load cars with household items as they prepare to cross into Guinea from the border town of Diaobe, Senegal, on September 3, 2014. Hide Caption 30 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health worker wearing a protective suit conducts an Ebola prevention drill at the port in Monrovia on August 29, 2014. Hide Caption 31 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A burial team from the Liberian Ministry of Health unloads bodies of Ebola victims onto a funeral pyre at a crematorium in Marshall, Liberia, on August 22, 2014. Hide Caption 32 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Dr. Kent Brantly leaves Emory University Hospital on August 21, 2014, after being declared no longer infectious from the Ebola virus. Brantly was one of two American missionaries brought to Emory for treatment of the deadly virus. Hide Caption 33 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic An Ebola Task Force soldier beats a local resident while enforcing a quarantine on the West Point slum on August 20, 2014. Hide Caption 34 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Local residents gather around a very sick Saah Exco, 10, in a back alley of the West Point slum on August 19, 2014. The boy was one of the patients that was pulled out of a holding center for suspected Ebola patients after the facility was overrun and closed by a mob on August 16. A local clinic then refused to treat Saah, according to residents, because of the danger of infection. Although he was never tested for Ebola, Saah's mother and brother died in the holding center. Hide Caption 35 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Workers prepare the new Ebola treatment center on August 17, 2014. Hide Caption 36 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Liberian police depart after firing shots in the air while trying to protect an Ebola burial team in the West Point slum of Monrovia on August 16, 2014. A crowd of several hundred local residents reportedly drove away the burial team and their police escort. The mob then forced open an Ebola isolation ward and took patients out, saying the Ebola epidemic is a hoax. Hide Caption 37 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health worker disinfects a corpse after a man died in a classroom being used as an Ebola isolation ward August 15, 2014, in Monrovia. Hide Caption 38 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Aid worker Nancy Writebol, wearing a protective suit, gets wheeled on a gurney into Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on August 5, 2014. A medical plane flew Writebol from Liberia to the United States after she and her colleague Dr. Kent Brantly were infected with the Ebola virus in the West African country. Hide Caption 39 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Members of Doctors Without Borders adjust tents in the isolation area in Kailahun on July 20, 2014. Hide Caption 40 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Boots dry in the Ebola treatment center in Kailahun on July 20, 2014. Hide Caption 41 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Dr. Jose Rovira of the World Health Organization takes a swab from a suspected Ebola victim in Pendembu, Sierra Leone, on July 18, 2014. Hide Caption 42 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Red Cross volunteers disinfect each other with chlorine after removing the body of an Ebola victim from a house in Pendembu on July 18, 2014. Hide Caption 43 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A scientist separates blood cells from plasma cells to isolate any Ebola RNA and test for the virus April 3, 2014, at the European Mobile Laboratory in Gueckedou, Guinea. Hide Caption 44 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health specialists work March 31, 2014, at an isolation ward for patients at the facility in southern Guinea. Hide Caption 45 of 45 
 
 So where did he go next? 
 
 Authorities believe he was on two United Airlines flights -- Flight 951 from Brussels to Washington Dulles and Flight 822 from Washington Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth -- during his trip, according to a spokesperson for the airline who did not want to be named. Passengers on those flights are not in danger, the spokesperson said. 
 
 The airline is voluntarily reaching out to passengers on those flights, an airline source said. 
 
 When did his Ebola symptoms appear? 
 
 "Four or five days" after his trip, according to the CDC's Frieden. 
 
 This doesn't mean that Duncan actually got infected with Ebola in the United States. The incubation period for the virus is two to 21 days, meaning that a person could be infected with the disease for up to three weeks before he or she show any signs of it. 
 
 When he did seek medical help? 
 
 After 10 p.m. Thursday, September 25. That's when Duncan first walked into Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, according to a statement Wednesday. (A hospital official had earlier said that he'd gone to the hospital Friday.) 
 
 His friend said that Duncan had a fever and vomiting during this first visit to the Dallas hospital. The hospital, in a statement Wednesday, said he had a "low grade fever and abdominal pain." 
 
 He underwent basic blood tests but wasn't screened for Ebola, said Dr. Edward Goodman from the Dallas hospital. Duncan left the medical facility after being given antibiotics and a pain reliever, his friend said. 
 
 "His condition did not warrant admission," the hospital said. "He also was not exhibiting symptoms specific to Ebola." 
 
 Were flags raised that Duncan might have Ebola? 
 
 After being asked by a nurse, Duncan did say that he'd traveled from Africa, said Dr. Mark Lester, executive vice president of Texas Health Presbyterian's parent company. 
 
 But that detail -- which might have raised an alarm that Duncan might have Ebola, since Liberia is one of the countries hardest hit by the virus -- was not "fully communicated" to the medical team, according to Lester. 
 
 When was he admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital? 
 
 On Sunday. 
 
 The friend -- frustrated and feeling hospital staff wasn't doing enough -- then reportedly called the CDC about Duncan's case. The CDC told the friend to call Texas' Department of Health, with the message eventually getting to the hospital. 
 
 This description, however, runs counter to what Texas Health Presbyterian said in its statement Wednesday. By the time Duncan arrived via ambulance, "EMS had already identified potential need for isolation," the hospital said. "The hospital followed all suggested CDC protocols at that time." 
 
 Who did the patient come into contact with in the meantime? 
 
 JUST WATCHED NBC cameraman diagnosed with Ebola Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH NBC cameraman diagnosed with Ebola 01:02 
 
 JUST WATCHED Everything you need to know about Ebola in TX Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Everything you need to know about Ebola in TX 06:58 
 
 JUST WATCHED Dallas mayor: Safety is first priority Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Dallas mayor: Safety is first priority 02:10 
 
 Given the timetable outlined by Frieden, that leaves a few days between when Duncan began to show signs of Ebola and when he was hospitalized. This is significant because someone with Ebola is only contagious when they are symptomatic. And, obviously, there are more safeguards to prevent infection in a medical environment than outside of it. 
 
 Health officials are reaching out to as many as 100 people who may have had contact with Duncan, a spokeswoman with the Texas Department of State Health Services said Thursday. These are people who are still being questioned because they may have crossed paths with the patient either at the hospital, at his apartment complex or in the community. 
 
 "Out of an abundance of caution, we're starting with this very wide net, including people who have had even brief encounters with the patient or the patient's home," spokeswoman Carrie Williams said. "The number will drop as we focus in on those whose contact may represent a potential risk of infection." 
 
 The number of direct contacts who have been identified and are being monitored right now is "more than 12," a federal official told CNN on Thursday. "By the end of the day, we should have a pretty good idea of how many contacts there are," the official said. 
 
 That number includes five students who attended four different schools in the area, according to Dallas Superintendent Mike Miles. 
 
 Three students were also pulled from an elementary school in the Richardson Independent School District on Thursday after health officials determined they may have been in contact with Duncan. 
 
 They have no symptoms, but "have been removed from school in order to be monitored," the school district said. 
 
 It's not known yet whether they or anyone else got Ebola, which only spreads through contact with infected bodily fluids, because of Duncan. This includes members of the ambulance crew that transported him to the hospital; none of had shown symptoms, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Tuesday. 
 
 How is Duncan doing? 
 
 "All right," according to his friend, who has spoken with Duncan frequently. "He is in pain." 
 
 The friend, who talked with Duncan as recently as Wednesday afternoon, said that Duncan hasn't eaten in a week. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital spokeswoman Candace White said that Duncan is in serious condition at her Dallas hospital.
– The heart attack that ultimately killed Michael Clarke Duncan happened in July, the AP reports. The gentle giant of an actor "suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered," reads a statement from Duncan's fiancée, Apprentice-star-turned-minister Omarosa Manigault. Duncan was still being treated at LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center when he died yesterday. The AP notes that Duncan became a vegetarian three years ago, and just this spring did a video for PETA saying he was "a lot healthier" since giving up meat. Duncan and Manigault were planning to wed in January, reports TMZ. Wedding preparations had just begun when Duncan went into full cardiac arrest. Though doctors were flown in to help him, he never left the hospital. Tributes to the actor are rolling in from all corners of Hollywood, but one of the most touching comes from Tom Hanks, Duncan's co-star in The Green Mile. "I am terribly saddened at the loss of Big Mike," Hanks tells Entertainment Tonight. "He was the treasure we all discovered on the set of The Green Mile. He was magic. He was a big love of man and his passing leaves us stunned."