Ebola outbreak

[Vee]

In fairness, I'd close too. What was she doing?

[alphanguy74]

I'm glad that people are being super overly cautious. It may be the one thing that keeps this from getting out of control. Americans have a tendency to be complacent until it's too late, then they freak out and start shitting bricks, like the smoker who finally quits after a diagnosis of lung cancer. I'd rather the bricks come now when there is time to stop it.

[ellabelle]

Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, like sweat. I don't know about you, but if Amber Vinson was trying on wedding dresses, I would not want to try on any of them after her. I hope that bridal salon is well insured and that it covers something like this.

Meanwhile, several of my friends in Texas have children who attend schools with people who were on that airplane. Letters went home to all the parents, and many of those families who were on the plane have pulled kids from school to avoid panic from the wider community. My friends are trying not to panic, but it's very scary. One of those cases is in Williamson County, right outside Austin. Yes, the risk of transmission is considered low, but when it's in your school or your town, it's too close for comfort.

[DramatistDreamer]

Very interesting article in which one of the nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian contradicts some statements made by the hospital.

Apparently, even when it was suspected that Thomas Duncan may have Ebola he sat for three hours with about 6 o7 other people before being isolated. The nurse also claims the hospital waited several hours to contact the CDC.

And apparently, there was chaos in the ER when Mr. Duncan was re-admitted. She says proper protocols were not followed nor were they even trained in any hands on manner- just a lecture that she didn't attend.

Ms. Aguirre said she and other nurses were horrified at the protocols used to treat Nurse Pham and were trained on the use of gloves, masks, gowns, etc. while they were in the room with Ms. Pham! Ms. Aguirre said that when she voiced her concerns on a gown that left a piece of skin on her neck exposed, and well, you should read it and hear the hospital's response...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/us/controls-poor-at-hospital-nurse-says.html

[JaneAusten]

This whole series of mishaps is kind of humorously tragic. I'm not laughing, but the lack of urgency and then the panic with the general public and particularly with the Texas hospital is tragic. I sort of laughed at the reactions by those washing down things in bleach and such but then I think what if it was me , someone I cared for, my students, their parents, people in my own community or my child who were potentially exposed or came into some form of contact with a potential Ebola patient. I think I'd probably be as frantic if not more so.

But why aren't people asking why congress has cut funding for organizations such as the NIH and CDC. Do people realize that the CDC has had cuts, and I don't care how many "bonuses" were paid out. I read the typical BS about how much better the private sector could handle this. Oh sure just like how well the private sector has managed their own houses? I'm not for the federal government dishing out unwarranted money, but I'll get back on my soapbox and say that there is never an issue with military spending or giving money to everyone around the world, but when it comes to addressing a health crisis, it's suddenly a government problem because of the bonuses a few CDC employees were awarded. I also saw people complaining about the salaries members of the CDC get. My niece works in NYC for the CDC at the NYC Depart of Public Health and makes a decent living but she doesn't make six figures and she also has a Ph.D, and works in a field where the minimum educational requirements for statisticians and researchers is a masters degree. I suppose many think people in the science community should make minimum wage also. Typical of some who think the only people who deserve to make a decent living are those who create jobs, forget paying people a decent wage to fill those jobs.

[ChitHappens]

I'm with you! I'm in Chicago but this scares the crap out of me, and how it was handled? My God!

[DRW50]

They're not asking because the media isn't asking. The media will just go tra la la about "big government" and how "big government" is responsible. People will say the CDC and the NIH should be abolished because we can do it all ourselves. There's a reason why the pigfuckers on MSNBC are already going on about putting people in camps.

[marceline]

Oh Jane, I want to hug you for this. Except I won't because I'm in Cleveland and I'm sick with a respiratory infection I caught while traveling and I can't get through to my doctor's office because everybody in this city thinks they have [!@#$%^&*] Ebola.

I'm laughing at the people who think that Obama should name an Ebola Czar. We used to have one except the job was called Surgeon General. We don't have one now because the NRA has threatened to go after anyone who votes to confirm him.

[alphanguy74]

I read an article saying that Obama doesn't have any problem with shutting down travel, but "medical experts" around him said it would make things worse. Just how? There already is border shutdowns in Africa itself. Just how would poeple travel here if all commercial flights out of those countries cease? What are they going to do, swim? People don't have resources for all this travel over in those countries, many of them live in mud huts. Have you seen pictures of the capital of Liberia? Imagine the worst slum in the US, and then people everywhere with no apparent traffic laws or signs, it looks like nothing but complete chaos. You see that and you know just how it spreads so fast over there.

[marceline]

Because a travel ban would make people look for other was to travel and expose more people. They will take buses and travel by car and they just fly to other countries without bans then transfer to a plane here. Yes, we might be able to catch them at the airport but it will just be that much harder because the system will be that much more taxed and more people will be potentially exposed. A travel ban is the type of thing that will make people feel better but won't actually help the problem. Contact tracing has proved to be the best way of tamping down on this and a travel ban makes that harder.

Think of it this way: what if Amber Vinson had rented a car and driven to and from Cleveland? Imagine trying to track down everyone she might have exposed when you don't have a travel manifest. Imagine having to contact every gas station she might've stopped at and every hotel she might've stayed in and every restaurant she might've eaten in. Then find all the people who went to those places.

[JaneAusten]

Thank you. I was actually talking to my niece about this and asked her about the travel ban and why not put one in place and she echoed exactly what you said. Now why the CDC director is talking about hurting the economies of all these countries when you just laid out a reason that seems more practical I don't know. Of course the CDC Director has been asked to play the role of Surgeon General, maybe the Surgeon General could have responded to these questions better prepared and with more data to support it.

[marceline]

Because he's trying to talk on a level that capitalists and corporatists will respect instead talking about science which we know means very little to these people. See Rand Paul.

[ellabelle]

Good article about what actual protective gear is required and what it's like: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/abby-norman/im-a-hazmat-trained-hospi_b_5998486.html

What's depressing about this is that it drives home that most hospitals just are not prepared to take this level of caution, and that providing home care for a possible Ebola patient pretty much guarantees everyone will get it.

[ellabelle]

List of Ebola cases, potential cases, numbers of people being contacted or monitored:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/17/us/ebola-us-list/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

eta: We're almost through the 21 day period for Duncan's relatives and close contacts, so if they come through without infection, despite some of them being trapped in an apartment with his soiled bedclothes for several days, then I think a lot of people will breathe easier about transmission.

[marceline]

Here's a nice article on why travel bans don't work:

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6964633/travel-ban-airport-screening-ebola-outbreak-virus

"In CDC Director Tom Freiden's words, "Even when governments restrict travel and trade, people in affected countries still find a way to move and it is even harder to track them systematically." In other words, determined people will find a way to cross borders anyway, but unlike at airports, we can't track their movements."