Stripper and male model Axl Goode is used to getting kissed, hugged, and even sat on by fans eager to take pictures with him. But the next three weeks will be solitary ones for Goode: On Monday, his airplane seat was within three feet of Ebola-infected nurse Amber Vinson’s, and he’s decided to quarantine himself as a result.

Goode took the Cleveland-to-Dallas flight with his friend Taylor Cole. The two men model for romance novel covers and were returning home from RomantiCon, a get-together in Canton, Ohio, for fans of the digital publishing house Ellora’s Cave.

Earlier this week, the CDC asked all 132 passengers on Flight 1143 to contact the agency. When Goode called, they wouldn’t tell him exactly which seat Vinson was in, but they did say that he sat within 3 feet of her.


Vinson cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola at Texas Health Prebysterian hospital in Dallas on Oct. 8. On Monday she called the CDC to report a slight temperature, but the CDC cleared her to fly.

After finding out he’d been on the same flight as Vinson, Goode told the Associated Press he felt “panic, [and] fear.’’ The Dallas County Health Department contacted Goode and gave him a no board order, which bars him from going on a flight or cruise, and told him to stay at least three feet away from other people. (Goode lives alone). He was told to take his temperature at least twice a day and keep track of his health in writing, and earlier this week he posted on Facebook that he expects his voluntary quarantine to become mandatory.

“It is pretty scary sitting inside quarantine waiting around because you don’t know. What if my thermometer — all of a sudden the temperature jumps, and I find out I’m running a fever?’’ Goode told the Associated Press.

In an interview with Good Morning America, Cole said he bleached all of his luggage and washed all of his clothes and placed himself under voluntary quarantine as well.


Goode’s friends set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for the men, who cannot work while under quarantine. So far, $2,800 has been raised for the pair, who will be under quarantine until Nov. 3.

Goode said people keep asking who he blames.

“That question has stumped me,’’ he wrote. “I always want to retort it was Amber or the CDC but truthfully, I don’t believe that. We as a nation are united as one. As such, we need to tackle problems as one. Amber Vinson was told by the CDC to travel. The CDC is a government entity and as such is controlled by the politicians we vote into office. With that perspective, we as a people have elected individuals to act in the ways we see fit. So in the end, no one is to blame. We can only take responsibility.’’