![Doctor Quarantined At NYC's Bellevue Hospital After Showing Symptoms Of Ebola Police officers stand outside 546 W. 147th street, the apartment building of Dr. Craig Spencer on Oct. 23, 2014 in New York City.](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ebola-nyc-craig-spencer2.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Craig Spencer, the New York doctor who tested positive for Ebola, is feeling well enough to play the banjo he requested while in isolation, the New York Post reports.
“He is an avid little banjo player and he’s self-taught,” Chriselle Gardner, the mother of Spencer’s fiancée, Morgan Dixon, told the Post. “I can tell you, he’s keeping his doctors amused.”
“He’s kicking Ebola’s butt — literally,” she added. “He’s going to be getting out soon.”
A spokeswoman for the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation tells the Associated Press that Spencer’s condition was upgraded from “serious” to “stable” last weekend and that he is also using the exercise bike he requested.
Spencer contracted Ebola in Guinea and has been quarantined since his diagnosis in New York City since Oct. 23.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Write to Elizabeth Barber at elizabeth.barber@timeasia.com