Ebola outbreak

[JaneAusten]

So this guy is a DOCTOR who was treating EBOLA patients and just returned 10 days ago. Why exactly was he not quarantined? He was supposed to be self monitoring doesn't that include staying at home or at least controlling where you go outside of home? What a dumbass. And he goes to a bowling alley, knowing that the virus can be transmitted through perspiration and he rents bowling shoes I assume. I will say again these medical professionals are the worst.

[Skin]

I'm annoyed that the country is still letting in people who have contracted the illness into the country. Like, really?

[Vee]

2000% done with the selfish, idiotic Ebola patients tbh

[ellabelle]

How the hell else do you get around in NYC? Most New Yorkers I know don't own cars. They walk, take cabs and use the subway, all of which exposes them to other people.

[Mr. Vixen]

Yes but was it necessary to take a train to GO BOWLING after you'd been exposed to Ebola?

[Vee]

Maybe the Ebola guy should have stayed home after returning from Guinea?

He was supposed to be self-isolating. I could not believe that woman on TV trying to smile and claim he had been doing so when riding the train, hitting Uber, going bowling and eating around town is the opposite of that.

I don't have much time for the word "privilege" as used on the Internet, but this guy and Amber Vinson (and Nancy Snyderman) all seem to be prime examples of two people deciding they don't have to do what the little people do.

[JaneAusten]

But weren't folks upset with Nancy Syderman for going out to get soup when she had been exposed and was actually under a form of quarantine? After that she was forced to go into quarantine, no choice. I think the point is why is this guy running all over town when he's supposed to be self monitoring and in a sort of self quarantined state. I hold the nurse less responsible because at least she contacted the CDC and asked her own facility what she should do before and after her fever rose. But of course Snyderman and now Dr. Spencer are doctors. They know better and don't have to follow the protocols the little people do I guess.

[marceline]

Doctors make lousy patients for just this reason. There's nothing new about doctors not following procedures they set out for others.

This is a good example of why a travel ban won't work. Even if we had a travel ban this doctor could very easily have flown into Canada or Mexico, neither of which have travel bans, then rented a car or got on a bus and come to NYC. In fact, he wouldn't have had to rent a car. He could've just flown in from Canada where the biggest questions he would've faced is "Are you transporting any plants or animals? Did you purchase anything at the duty-free shop?" A travel ban would just make it harder to do the things that actually work like contact tracing. A travel ban would be the same kind of theatre as removing our shoes at the airport. It would make xenophobes feel better while actually making the situation worse.

[DramatistDreamer]

Take a damn bike! And not a Citibike either. And go straight home, don't go to the Gutter in Williamsburg, don't take the A Train, don't get on the L.

The guy's a doctor. He should've known better than this. He claims he had been taking his temperature twice daily and he claims he exhibited no symptoms until he called in the 103 temperature (huh?)

Oh, and I heard he also travelled through Europe before he got here. Do folks still believe that a travel ban will work if people don't report their full itinerary??

This guy is a grade A narcissist. He should have reported his imminent departure from Guinea to the CDC and Health & Human Services, so they can prepare for him and help him arrange travel. One of the doctors in NYC said they didn't understand how he just had himself admitted on Thursday when he appeared to be so sick.

[DramatistDreamer]

Oh, and here's another story that may put a twist in your stomach.

Apparently, an Ebola Vaccine was developed 10 years ago, with a projected date of release for 2011-2012. It had been tested on monkeys and had a 100% efficacy rate and was slated to proceed to human trials. So why is it still sitting on shelves??

It seems that big pharma had no interest in developing something that would treat people in primarily poor countries. There was no follow up on the trials. The reason given was that only a small number of people died during previous outbreaks (just collateral damage, I guess ) so it was deemed RARE. Yup, there was no previous incentive to put through a life saving vaccine for a bunch of poor Africans, I guess.

Big Pharma, take a Bow.

[marceline]

The glories of for profit healthcare. Why work on an Ebola vaccine when people will pay a fortune for drugs to cure restless leg syndrome? I'll be interested to see how much pharamceutical companies jack up the price for that vaccine now.

Yeah but to get a bike he'd have to go to a store and buy one which would still expose people. This is one situation where self-monitoring doesn't make sense. The guy was in physical contact with ebola patients. This isn't the hypochondriac swearing that he has ebola just because he sneezed. This is somebody who was actually at risk. You're absolutely right that the CDC should've arranged for his trip home and he should've been admitted for monitoring the moment he set foot on U.S. soil. It not like he would lose his job at Red Lobster for calling in sick. He's a doctor with all the knowledge and resources at his fingertips.

[JaneAusten]

Well thousands of people still die from HIV every year and the majority of those are in third world countries. I am still convinced we don't have an HIV vaccine because there is more money in the drug's that are used to treat HIV carriers in the Western world then there would be in a vaccine.

[DramatistDreamer]

There just seems to be this perception--I don't know where this comes from--that somehow poor people and other 'undesirables' do not deserve access to proper care (think of some of the attitudes espoused toward Medicaid which is for the poor).

For the big Pharma, there is no money to be made in a cure. Only in getting people to continue on a relentless pace of daily drug cocktail protocols. I know that sounds terribly cynical but it's honestly how I feel at this point. These Big Pharmaceutical companies' primary concern is not 'Wellness' but profit. They don't do anything right away that is not automatically linked to profitability. That's why they've tried to block generic drugs for some time too.

Now of course, that Ebola has touched down in Europe in the U.S., now, apparently, it's 'Go Time' because somebody important might get sick!

[ellabelle]

As far as travel goes, he's an American citizen. The US government is not going to tell Americans they can't work overseas and then not come home. That's just not going to happen, no matter where he was. He's an American, he's entitled to return. He connected through Belgium because there are no direct flights from West Africa to the US.

I agree that it would have been ideal if he'd reported his planned return to the CDC and put some sort of plan in place, but unless the federal government requires it, people aren't going to DO it. It's easy to say in retrospect that he should have done X, Y and Z - and clearly we'd be right because he DOES have Ebola. That said, most people don't want to be put into a mandatory 3 weeks quarantine (vs self-monitoring), and most people don't have the ability to just drop out of life and society and avoid their families for 3 weeks. A 3 week mandatory quarantine (versus self-monitoring) upon return from any Ebola-infected country for all medical workers also has the potential to be problematic in terms of recruiting Americans to help over there. If I am a doctor working in an American hospital or with a practice of my own, and I want to take my vacation time to provide a humanitarian service in Africa, it then becomes a greater financial cost to me if I have to miss another 3 weeks of work to sit at home and twiddle my thumbs on the off chance I have a disease the CDC keeps insisting is hard to catch.

I don't buy that he went from fine to 103 without any symptoms. I think he either didn't notice or convinced himself he wasn't sick and that it was no big deal, which is frustrating since he potentially exposed others.

[JaneAusten]

So Ellabelle are you suggesting that this doctor was back at work. It's one thing for someone who sits in a cubicle interacting very little with others to return to work after exposure, it's another thing for a doctor, exposes his potential illness to patients he is treating, patients who are already likely in a vulnerable state. A doctor we know was exposed to Ebola because he was treating patients in New Guinea

No one is suggesting that these folks should not be allowed entry or should be locked up, but we are now talking about people who were treating Ebola patients on a daily basis for an extended period of time. He should have been more careful for the same reason Nancy Synderman and her crew needed to. Because they were all directly exposed to people who were infected when in a highly contagious state. Having to sit out for three weeks is a very small penalty to pay if it prevents other people from contracting this disease.

And by the way I agree with you. Doctors are arrogant enough to think "I know better" so I would not be surprised to discover he was experiencing symptoms for a longer period of time than a couple of days.