NYPD officers seen discarding gloves, masks into garbage can near Ebola patient's apartment

New York City officials urged the public to remain calm after a doctor who recently returned from West Africa became the first person in the city to test positive for Ebola.

"We want to state at the outset there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed," Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference on Thursday night at Bellevue Hospital Center, where Dr. Craig Spencer is being treated.

But the image of two NYPD officers disposing protective masks and gloves into a garbage can on the sidewalk near Spencer's apartment has caused some concerns, at least online.

In a video published by the Daily Mail and broadcast on CNN, the unidentified officers can be seen discarding a mask, gloves and yellow police tape in the garbage can in Harlem, where the 33-year-old doctor lives. Earlier, police sealed off the entire block in front of Spencer's building on West 147th Street.

A spokesman for the NYPD told Yahoo News that the officers never entered the building.

"The officers responded to the perimeter of the incident in order to redirect traffic and escort EMS to Bellevue Hospital," NYPD Sgt. Brendan Ryan said in a statement. "At no time did the officers come in contact with the male patient or enter the apartment building."

Nonetheless, the footage perplexed several viewers.

And this from the hosts of "Fox & Friends."

Dr. Irwin Redlener, head of Columbia University's National Center for Disease Preparedness, said while it didn't look good, there was no health risk.

"From an optics point of view, that didn't look good," Redlener said on CNN. "From the reality point of view, I would say there's literally zero risk for what happened in this little video clip we're looking at."

Hospital officials said Spencer was transported to Bellevue on Thursday afternoon "by a specially trained HAZ TAC unit wearing Personal Protective Equipment."

"The chances of the average New Yorker contracting Ebola are extremely slim," the hospital said. "Ebola is spread by directly touching the bodily fluids of an infected person. You cannot be infected simply by being near someone who has Ebola."

Meanwhile, NYC health department staffers have been canvassing Spencer's neighborhood and distributing handbills (titled "Ebola: Am I at risk?") explaining facts about the deadly virus.

"What we're doing now is just telling the folks who live here in the neighborhood that they're safe," Sam Miller, associate commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told the cable network. "It's safe for them to be in their buildings, it's safe for them to go to their apartments, it's safe for them to walk down the street."