While the Washington State Department of Health had prepared a plan for the arrival of the virus in January, it assumed it still had weeks before the disease would reach the U.S.Ā āIn three days, the plan was trashed. We went through every step,ā Marcia Goldoft, a clinical epidemiologist with the Washington State DOH, told Yahoo News. āI donāt think anyone involved has ever seen anything go this fast.āĀ