Ebola arrives in America tomorrow on a fancy private jet

[ksinger]

I'm sorry, but the US and North America in general, are fully capable of handling the ebola cases that might pop up here. It's expected that there will be some. The countries in Africa are not equipped enough to deal with it, and that's why THEY are having such a horrible time with it. Send donations, don't just sit and say NIMBY!! Seriously, we are sending troops and medical workers and supplies there to help. Contain the problem at it's source, don't worry about something happening here that can't be handled. It can be handled here. The people who have been infected on US soil are all doing well with treatment.

Absolutely. Our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, it is under-executing. All this has done is show us the areas where we need to up our game. FAST. As several of our PS members who are either in or around the healthcare world have pointed out, it's long past due for hospitals and doctors/nurses to start taking basic sanitation protocols seriously again. They've gotten very sloppy, and I can't for the life of me understand why. Maybe the specter of ebola, as scary as it is, will start making health workers take this stuff seriously again.

As a bit of a tangent, I was talking to my aunt last night, and she said she'd be sick with some upper respiratory and vicious sore throat crud for about 2 weeks now. She said she'd gone to the doctor, who actually cultured her throat. He found nothing bacterial. SO......he gave her these monstrously sized amoxiycillins. He found nothing, yet gave her an antibiotic anyway. And we wonder why we are at the end of working antibiotics. Doctors have a bunch to answer for, for helping create the post-antibiotic world we are now entering.

 

[Trekkie]

I'm sorry, but the US and North America in general, are fully capable of handling the ebola cases that might pop up here. It's expected that there will be some. The countries in Africa are not equipped enough to deal with it, and that's why THEY are having such a horrible time with it. Send donations, don't just sit and say NIMBY!! Seriously, we are sending troops and medical workers and supplies there to help. Contain the problem at it's source, don't worry about something happening here that can't be handled. It can be handled here. The people who have been infected on US soil are all doing well with treatment.

Absolutely. Our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, it is under-executing. All this has done is show us the areas where we need to up our game. FAST. As several of our PS members who are either in or around the healthcare world have pointed out, it's long past due for hospitals and doctors/nurses to start taking basic sanitation protocols seriously again. They've gotten very sloppy, and I can't for the life of me understand why. Maybe the specter of ebola, as scary as it is, will start making health workers take this stuff seriously again.

As a bit of a tangent, I was talking to my aunt last night, and she said she'd be sick with some upper respiratory and vicious sore throat crud for about 2 weeks now. She said she'd gone to the doctor, who actually cultured her throat. He found nothing bacterial. SO......he gave her these monstrously sized amoxiycillins. He found nothing, yet gave her an antibiotic anyway. And we wonder why we are at the end of working antibiotics. Doctors have a bunch to answer for, for helping create the post-antibiotic world we are now entering.

I'm pretty sure the US will be fine. I do think there will be more deaths but I don't see Ebola going crazy in the US like it is in some parts of West Africa.

Honestly? I'm way more worried about what will happen next year when it inevitably gets to South Africa.

 

[missy]

Karen, perhaps you see it differently where you live but in NYC 17 hospitals have closed in the last decade or so. Medicare and medicaid reimbursement have been reduced, medical inflation has skyrocketed and community hospitals throughout the city are losing funding and hospital beds. So from my personal POV the healthcare system is overwhelmed. I work in healthcare and I see it firsthand. Sure, the rich will always have good healthcare but for the rest of us it is questionable at best. The current healthcare system is just not working where I live.

Hopefully the CDC will take new steps as they promise they will to help hospital workers protect themselves and provide more training to help them to deal with potential Ebola patients. They are going to have to learn fast and learn well to make sure that health care workers are fully prepared to handle a patient infected with Ebola.

Regarding your aunt's situation-she might have insisted on antibiotics and perhaps that is why her physician prescribed them. I am not saying that is what happened in her case but lots of patients frustrated with not getting better quickly enough think antibiotics is the fix. Like it or not doctors cave to patient pressure and it is unfortunate because we are ultimately all responsible if we take antibiotics with no reason. Another scenario is that he was concerned she might develop a secondary bacterial infection and in that case decided antibiotics were necessary.
I hope your aunt is feeling better very soon.

 

[kenny]

 

[ksinger]

Karen, perhaps you see it differently where you live but in NYC 17 hospitals have closed in the last decade or so. Medicare and medicaid reimbursement have been reduced, medical inflation has skyrocketed and community hospitals throughout the city are losing funding and hospital beds. So from my personal POV the healthcare system is overwhelmed. I work in healthcare and I see it firsthand. Sure, the rich will always have good healthcare but for the rest of us it is questionable at best. The current healthcare system is just not working where I live.

Hopefully the CDC will take new steps as they promise they will to help hospital workers protect themselves and provide more training to help them to deal with potential Ebola patients. They are going to have to learn fast and learn well to make sure that health care workers are fully prepared to handle a patient infected with Ebola.

Regarding your aunt's situation-she might have insisted on antibiotics and perhaps that is why her physician prescribed them. I am not saying that is what happened in her case but lots of patients frustrated with not getting better quickly enough think antibiotics is the fix. Like it or not doctors cave to patient pressure and it is unfortunate because we are ultimately all responsible if we take antibiotics with no reason. Another scenario is that he was concerned she might develop a secondary bacterial infection and in that case decided antibiotics were necessary.
I hope your aunt is feeling better very soon.

"17 hospitals have closed in the last decade or so. Medicare and medicaid reimbursement have been reduced, medical inflation has skyrocketed and community hospitals throughout the city are losing funding and hospital beds. So from my personal POV the healthcare system is overwhelmed."

That is sad and concerning, but I fail to see how those facts in NYC prove that there is therefore, no hospital in the US that could handle a few ebola cases properly. The logical leap there is too huge to hurdle.

Now, was the CDC blowing sunshine to imply that ANY hospital could handle ebola? In retrospect, obviously. But let's get a grip. We are NOT going to end up like Sierra Leone or Guinea. So far we've had ONE infected person come here. Yes, there was ebola, and through a level of carelessness (that likely will NOT be repeated) a few other people who had DIRECT CONTACT, got infected. But even with the mistakes, there has not been an outbreak of ebola here, and any subsequent cases will likely now be immediately shuttled to facilities that have the proper wards and trained staff to handle them.

There has however, been an outbreak of "fear-bola" that is utterly irrational, and frankly, embarrassing. (Kenny's cartoon captures that too)

Ebola hysteria: An epic, epidemic overreaction
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/health/ebola-overreaction/

While the threat of Ebola is very real in Africa, the paranoia it's generated in the United States is unreal.

You can count the number of documented cases in America on two hands -- and still have fingers to spare.

There are eight confirmed cases. And in each one, the patient was either infected in Liberia or Sierra Leone, or had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian returnee who's the sole fatality of the disease in the U.S.

Health care professionals, both within the government and those with little reason to parrot a party line, insist that the chances of any of us catching the virus are minuscule.

If we really need something to worry about, they say, worry about getting your flu shots. From 1976 through 2007, flu-related causes killed between 3,000 and 49,000 people in the U.S.

And yet, the disproportionate hysteria over Ebola multiplies contagiously.

Mel Robbins, a CNN commentator and legal analyst, has given it a name: Fear-bola.

"Fear-bola attacks the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking," she says. "It starts with a low-grade concern about the two health care workers diagnosed with Ebola in Dallas and slowly builds into fear of a widespread epidemic in the United States."

How bad is it?

So bad that nearly two thirds of those queried in a Washington Post/ABC News poll said they're concerned about an epidemic in the U.S.

So bad that the Centers for Disease Control, in the first week of October, fielded 800 calls from concerned Americans.

So bad that even after a Dallas lab worker -- who isolated herself in her cabin during a Carnival Cruise because she may have possibly handled Duncan's clinical specimen -- was cleared, the Moore, Oklahoma, Public Schools asked students and faculty who were on the same cruise not to come to school. (And as an Oklahoma resident, yeah, THAT IS embarrassing. Facepalm/banghead)

Here are some more examples of overreaction:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/20/health/ebola-overreaction/

That said, my husband was down in Dallas (gasp!) this last weekend for a regatta. I DID actually let him back in the house afterwards...

And no, my aunt did not ask for antibiotics. However, had she done so, she STILL should not have been given them after a culture that did not indicate bacterial anything. That reflexive claim that "Well, there MIGHT be a chance for a secondary infection." is a load of codswallop and a complete cop-out. Doctors need to grow spines and buck up in that area. If they can callously treat everyone in pain (which is woefully undertreated in this country) who asks for a pain med, as a secret junkie who is exhibiting drug-seeking behavior, I'm fairly confident they can also say NO to demands for antibiotics.

 

[missy]

Hi Karen, I was responding to your comment

"Our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, it is under-executing"

From my POV our healthcare system is overwhelmed and that is why I explained that 17 NYC hospitals have closed and there is a shortage of hospital beds and properly trained healthcare providers. Less healthcare workers/less hospitals caring for more people. I am not speaking for every city in this country however. Just adding my perspective. I am all for (and if you read from the beginning was all for) treating Ebola here and making sure that affected individuals come here under controlled circumstances.

Personally I have no "Ebola Hysteria". I am too much a science person to let irrational fears of disease and outbreak cloud my thinking. Though I can understand how people with little science background could overreact as the beginning of this thread and poll shows. Those fears were/are unwarranted and as predicted the problem with Ebola spreading was due to an infected individual bringing it here unwittingly through commercial air travel. My main point was more needs to be done to prevent that potential threat because yes, many more can become infected if someone who is contagious gets through checkpoints and is allowed to travel on a plane with a couple of hundred people.

Regarding your Aunt's situation. Unless you were privy to her health records and spoke with the medical professionals caring for her you really don't know if antibiotics were or were not warranted in her case. Since I do not know the facts I will refrain from commenting further on her case but perhaps (just perhaps) you might be wrong that she did not/does not need antibiotics.

 

[TC1987]

(shrug) Hey, better safe than sorry. I'm still not worried about getting shot, because I don't think that's likely to happen. And anyway, unless it's from a rifle fired a long distance away, I think I'd at least have some kind of warning that a gun is being fired at me, yanno. Ebola, well, that could be on the cart at the grocery store, or on the toilet seat at work, or on those toys your kid plays with at daycare... It kind of boggles the mind very fast it you even try to think it through, because it can be anywhere and all you have to do is be in the right place at the right time. And even 50% death rate is still pretty devastating if the 50% is you or someone you care about. Hospitals are filthy places that are so inadequately cleaned that people pick up staph, c-diff, VRE, etc. all the time. So, I don't think the "hysteria" is misplaced at all. We are dealing with a silent killer with at least a 50% death rate, and USA has proper facilities to treat only 9 people at a time.

a kind-of update on Amber Vinson's condition:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/ebola-stricken-nurse-amber-vinson-condition-improves-family-friend-article-1.1981160

 

[Trekkie]

Hi Karen, I was responding to your comment

"Our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, it is under-executing"

From my POV our healthcare system is overwhelmed and that is why I explained that 17 NYC hospitals have closed and there is a shortage of hospital beds and properly trained healthcare providers. Less healthcare workers/less hospitals caring for more people. I am not speaking for every city in this country however. Just adding my perspective. I am all for (and if you read from the beginning was all for) treating Ebola here and making sure that affected individuals come here under controlled circumstances.

Personally I have no "Ebola Hysteria". I am too much a science person to let irrational fears of disease and outbreak cloud my thinking. Though I can understand how people with little science background could overreact as the beginning of this thread and poll shows. Those fears were/are unwarranted and as predicted the problem with Ebola spreading was due to an infected individual bringing it here unwittingly through commercial air travel. My main point was more needs to be done to prevent that potential threat because yes, many more can become infected if someone who is contagious gets through checkpoints and is allowed to travel on a plane with a couple of hundred people.

Regarding your Aunt's situation. Unless you were privy to her health records and spoke with the medical professionals caring for her you really don't know if antibiotics were or were not warranted in her case. Since I do not know the facts I will refrain from commenting further on her case but perhaps (just perhaps) you might be wrong that she did not/does not need antibiotics.

I have no experience with health care in the US so can't comment on the rest of what you've said, but do feel the need to comment on this.

It was not "unwitting". He knew fully well that he had been exposed to Ebola and chose to go to the US anyway. Even his family, who initially denied it, eventually admitted it at his memorial service.

He LIED about this when he entered the US. He KNEW he was at risk and when he first reported to the hospital he should have made it very clear that his illness might have been Ebola. If he had, much of this could have been averted.

Playing the blame game doesn't help anyone now, but neither does pretending that Thomas Eric Duncan was just some poor innocent person who "just happened" to enter the US with Ebola. (Not that you're doing this, Missy, but I have seen it repeatedly and it's really starting to grind my gears).

 

[missy]

Hi Karen, I was responding to your comment

"Our healthcare system is not overwhelmed, it is under-executing"

From my POV our healthcare system is overwhelmed and that is why I explained that 17 NYC hospitals have closed and there is a shortage of hospital beds and properly trained healthcare providers. Less healthcare workers/less hospitals caring for more people. I am not speaking for every city in this country however. Just adding my perspective. I am all for (and if you read from the beginning was all for) treating Ebola here and making sure that affected individuals come here under controlled circumstances.

Personally I have no "Ebola Hysteria". I am too much a science person to let irrational fears of disease and outbreak cloud my thinking. Though I can understand how people with little science background could overreact as the beginning of this thread and poll shows. Those fears were/are unwarranted and as predicted the problem with Ebola spreading was due to an infected individual bringing it here unwittingly through commercial air travel. My main point was more needs to be done to prevent that potential threat because yes, many more can become infected if someone who is contagious gets through checkpoints and is allowed to travel on a plane with a couple of hundred people.

Regarding your Aunt's situation. Unless you were privy to her health records and spoke with the medical professionals caring for her you really don't know if antibiotics were or were not warranted in her case. Since I do not know the facts I will refrain from commenting further on her case but perhaps (just perhaps) you might be wrong that she did not/does not need antibiotics.

I have no experience with health care in the US so can't comment on the rest of what you've said, but do feel the need to comment on this.

It was not "unwitting". He knew fully well that he had been exposed to Ebola and chose to go to the US anyway. Even his family, who initially denied it, eventually admitted it at his memorial service.

He LIED about this when he entered the US. He KNEW he was at risk and when he first reported to the hospital he should have made it very clear that his illness might have been Ebola. If he had, much of this could have been averted.

Playing the blame game doesn't help anyone now, but neither does pretending that Thomas Eric Duncan was just some poor innocent person who "just happened" to enter the US with Ebola. (Not that you're doing this, Missy, but I have seen it repeatedly and it's really starting to grind my gears).

Hi Trekkie, you're right. Thomas Duncan was not innocent. The point I am trying to make is there need to be (better) safeguards in place to ensure this does not happen again. That could prove difficult but necessary nonetheless. New guidelines are being set up as we chat in fact.

http://patch.com/new-jersey/westorange/travel-ebola-affected-countries-restricted-five-airports-including-newark?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=police%20%26%20fire&utm_campaign=alert

Let's hope no more mistakes are made because let's face it. There are people who are going to try to fool the system no matter and it is up to us to make sure that doesn't happen again or the cost will be more lives.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

The so-called "over reaction" has called attention to what needs to be done in an emergency health crisis. This is a good thing.We now have more effective management policies which hopefully we can execute to stop the spread of disease here.

If we had acted like this in the aids crisis we would have probably had a vaccine or treatment much sooner that would have saved many lives.

Pressure is necessary to have movement by Gov't and the health care community. So don't stop some clammer, its very useful.

I looked up hazmat suits to see the cost, as I contemplated a purchase, but they are all sold out. Great Britain just ordered 100.000 suits to be used in africa.

As so many of you say when it comes to guns, "I'm not afraid, I just want to be prepared". I will still buy a large cholox next grocery
shopping trip, but I'll wait on the suit.

Annette

 

[ruby59]

From an article in my hometown paper (projo.com) titled "Ebola didn't have to kill my uncle" the family is still denying that Mr. Duncan knew he had Ebola when he entered the U.S. The nephew claims the whole story of him helping that pregnant woman with Ebola is in fact untrue. And the family is still strongly questioning whether enough was done for him because he was a man of color, even though that drug was not available and he did not match the blood type of any of the survivors.

Rhode Island has one of the largest Liberian populations, and it is being said it would not be surprising if a couple of cases of Ebola did occur here. So, I am glad to see that an additional precaution is being put into place. Now, all people coming from the infected areas can only travel through 5 stated airports where they will be tested to make sure they do not have the disease.

 

[Trekkie]

From an article in my hometown paper (projo.com) titled "Ebola didn't have to kill my uncle" the family is still denying that Mr. Duncan knew he had Ebola when he entered the U.S. The nephew claims the whole story of him helping that pregnant woman with Ebola is in fact untrue. And the family is still strongly questioning whether enough was done for him because he was a man of color, even though that drug was not available and he did not match the blood type of any of the survivors.

Rhode Island has one of the largest Liberian populations, and it is being said it would not be surprising if a couple of cases of Ebola did occur here. So, I am glad to see that an additional precaution is being put into place. Now, all people coming from the infected areas can only travel through 5 stated airports where they will be tested to make sure they do not have the disease.

Hmmmmmm. Interesting. This says something different:

"There's no doubt in my mind that what's described in the news is something that Eric would do," said Weeks, who like Duncan is 42 and grew up in the same households as his uncle. "Eric would have been out there and helped that woman. And he would have done everything that he needed to do for that woman to make sure she was fine."

www.people.com/article/thomas-eric-duncan-funeral-first-ebola-victim

 

[ruby59]

http://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/commentary/20141020-josephus-weeks-ebola-didnt-have-to-kill-my-uncle.ece[url][/url]

This is the article I was referring to. But I guess there are 3 sides to every story.

 

[Autumnovember]

Saw on the news this morning that there is currently a person being evaluated for Ebola in NJ. He was screened at Newark airport and found to have a fever. He's in isolation at University Hospital. I did three semesters of clinicals at that hospital, not a place I'd want to be.

 

[Sunstorm]

Maybe I am a softie but I do feel very badly for this yes I think poor guy. I mean perhaps he was not innocent but all he did was trying to help a pregnant woman, we do not know whether he was aware that she had ebola or that he could get it, perhaps he was not educated on this subject. Whether he went to the US hoping he would get help there, I would not go that far, perhaps he did but still the story we know about him does not make him not innocent in my eyes. Yes, I do feel that he died unnecessarily and it is not very nice to blame a now dead person. I am not sure whether all was done for him that was done for the others that survived but we do know that he was sent away the first time and that was not his fault either. It was the result of a misfunctioning system and whether he could have survived had he been helped right away, we will never know. As a consequence of events, he did die and I think that we should at least show respect regardless of whether he is black, white, green, educated or not, a citizen from the Moon or whereever. It was unfortunate that his bloodtype was a mismatch but you know if it had been one of our relatives I am not sure how we would feel that he did not get the same meds the doctors did. Perhaps it was not intentional at all but if he had gotten it, perhaps he could have survived, we will never know. Yes, he was at least ignorant but that is not necessarily his fault either. Was he negligent? Possibly, we do not know. I still do not think he had to die as a result. Noone to blame and not blaming anyone and that includes him too. Now I will probably be flamed.)

 

[Trekkie]

http://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/commentary/20141020-josephus-weeks-ebola-didnt-have-to-kill-my-uncle.ece[url][/url]

This is the article I was referring to. But I guess there are 3 sides to every story.

Yes, I saw that too, which is why I was so taken aback when I read the article I posted above.

On another note, I was chatting to a friend about Ebola and he told me that he feels Americans are seriously overreacting. To put it in perspective, he sent me this picture:

 

[missy]

New guidelines for travelers from affected countries.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/health/us-to-monitor-travelers-from-ebola-hit-nations-for-21-days.html?_r=0

Federal health officials Wednesday placed new restrictions on travelers from West African countries with Ebola outbreaks, requiring that they report their temperatures daily for three weeks, along with any other potential symptoms of the disease.

The regulations, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are meant to monitor everyone at risk of developing Ebola symptoms from an infection acquired overseas, while not shutting the borders and not overwhelming state and local health departments with having to hunt down hundreds of newly arrived visitors.

The announcement came amid good news about two nurses who became infected after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who died in Texas on Oct. 8. Family members of one nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, said they had been told that her body was clear of the virus and that she was being moved out of isolation. The other nurse, Nina Pham, had her condition upgraded to good from fair on Tuesday.


The new federal rules take effect next Monday. All travelers who have visited Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone will be required to provide home and email addresses, telephone numbers and other contact details for themselves and at least one friend or relative.


Once a day for the next 21 days, they will have to check in with their state or local health departments and report their morning and evening temperatures and list any other symptoms, such as nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches or bleeding.

State and local health departments will be required to have plans for finding and potentially detaining anyone who fails to check in.

On arrival at an airport, each of those travelers will receive a packet with a thermometer, a card describing Ebola symptoms and a card to be given to a doctor or nurse if the traveler develops symptoms and is ordered to go to a hospital.

The new restrictions apply to citizens of every country, including the United States. “They include C.D.C. employees, journalists, everyone,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the centers, said in a telephone news conference.

Some members of Congress have demanded a complete ban on arrivals from the three West African countries, but health officials have argued that was unnecessary and would cripple efforts to stop the disease.

In Washington, President Obama praised the C.D.C.’s plan and said the government “would continue to put in place additional measures as they make sense.”

His remarks came after an hourlong meeting with top advisers, including his new “Ebola czar,” Ron Klain, a former chief of staff for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

White House aides said Mr. Klain would probably keep a low profile as he coordinated the government’s response to the crisis.

Mr. Obama said Mr. Klain, other aides and the C.D.C. would “systematically and steadily just make sure that every hospital has a plan.”

A series of mistakes at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas that led to the infection of two nurses have called into question American hospitals’ Ebola preparedness.

Separately, a senior official in the Department of Health and Human Services said the government was creating a network of “maybe up to 20” hospitals to which Ebola victims could be safely sent, in addition to the handful with special isolation units to which other Ebola patients, like the nurses, have been transferred.

In a phone call with hospital administrators, Dr. Nicole Lurie, the department’s chief of preparedness, said the intent was to make sure that an Ebola victim anywhere in the country was no more than an eight-hour ambulance ride from a hospital with a staff trained to handle Ebola patients.


Public health officials like Dr. Frieden have said that a complete travel ban would do more harm than good. Pilots and others ferrying supplies and personnel to the three countries must be able to fly in and out, and the heads of medical charities and the American military supervising troops need the same flexibility. Dr. Frieden himself visited all three countries in August.

Also, if doctors and nurses could not come home from working there, they would be unlikely to volunteer to go.

Under the new rules, they will be able to return but must be monitored.

The rules will be enforced starting Monday in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Georgia — the destinations for about 70 percent of all travelers from West Africa — and rolled out in other states soon after, Dr. Frieden said.

The Department of Homeland Security recently announced that all travelers to the United States who have visited any of the three West African countries must enter through one of five international airports where health officials are stationed to take their temperatures and travel histories, and get their contact details.

They include Kennedy International in New York, Newark Liberty International, Washington Dulles International, O’Hare International in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta. Those airports account for 94 percent of all arrivals from the affected countries.

 

[TC1987]

http://www.providencejournal.com/opinion/commentary/20141020-josephus-weeks-ebola-didnt-have-to-kill-my-uncle.ece[url][/url]

This is the article I was referring to. But I guess there are 3 sides to every story.

Yes, I saw that too, which is why I was so taken aback when I read the article I posted above.

On another note, I was chatting to a friend about Ebola and he told me that he feels Americans are seriously overreacting. To put it in perspective, he sent me this picture:

That's true now, but the issue is that we must think ahead to the what-ifs, in order to head off disaster. You can't wait until a situation flares up until you try to find a solution. That's exactly what happened in Dallas and we ended up with 2 nurses infected because there was no plan and no proper PPE and medical personnel didn't have "ebola" uppermost in their minds, so they mis-diagnosed the patient on the first pass.

One of the NASA astronauts called it "What's the next thing that can kill me?" Engineers understand this regimen very well. Once Pandora's box is open, you can't ignore potential problems! You must try to anticipate them. IF ebola were to get into a homeless population, for example, and spread undetected for a while, then spread to the volunteers at the soup kitchen, as well as other patrons and volunteers, what happens then? If Susie Sweetness who volunteers there picks it up, then goes home to her assisted living facility and gives it to people there and hugs her grandkids, what happens? You can't just sweep this under the rug and say "It can't happen here." You have to remain alert and face potential problems head-on.

On a positive note, Amber Vinson's family say she's ebola free now. I read that the hospital has a policy of NOT talking about her condition at all. I presumed that she was in worse condition than Nina Pham, but perhaps that isn't the case. I hope both women recover, and I check the news every day for updates just because inadequate PPE for nurses is such a personal hot button for me.

 

[telephone89]

Yes, I saw that too, which is why I was so taken aback when I read the article I posted above.

On another note, I was chatting to a friend about Ebola and he told me that he feels Americans are seriously overreacting. To put it in perspective, he sent me this picture:

This is the best thing I've seen all day. Maybe all week.

 

[Calliecake]

Nurse Amber Vinson no longer has the Ebola virus.

Nurse Nina Pham's dog has tested negative for the virus.

 

[missy]

Nurse Amber Vinson no longer has the Ebola virus.

Nurse Nina Pham's dog has tested negative for the virus.

Woohoo that's great news! So glad the dog is OK too.

 

[Calliecake]

I think they will keep Bentley in quarantine for at least 21 days. So far so good. He is still free of the virus.

Dr. Craig Spencer has been admitted to NYC Bellview hospital with a103F fever. He returned from Guinea 10 days ago where he was treating Ebola patients.

 

[kenny]

Test results are in.

The doctor, now in NYC's Bellevue Hospital, who treated Ebola patients in West Africa does have Ebola.
His girlfriend is also in isolation now.

Nothing to worry about though.
Manhattan is not very densely populated, and people rarely are in close contact with each other.

Now they have to do the detective work to identify, contact and follow all with whom he has had contact in recent days.

Why are we not quarantining these folks upon arrival in America?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/new-york-possible-ebola-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

 

[Matata]

Here's an article from the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/nyregion/craig-spencer-is-tested-for-ebola-virus-at-bellevue-hospital-in-new-york-city.html?_r=0

I agree that it seems prudent to quarantine health care workers arriving home from working in affected areas. He is quoted as saying that he did not believe his protective gear was breached while he was in Guinea. So he was feeling a bit sluggish for a few days, took the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn and went bowling.

Three weeks ago I was taking the subway from Manhattan to Brooklyn and people were sneezing and coughing without covering their mouths. It is easy to see how a contagious disease can spread in a densely populated area. I kept wondering whether the person I was sharing the pole with, who happened to have sweaty hands, was sick and what that meant for me and anyone else touching that wet pole. It's science fiction turned reality.

 

[Calliecake]

Test results are in.

The doctor, now in NYC's Bellevue Hospital, who treated Ebola patients in West Africa does have Ebola.
His girlfriend is also in isolation now.

Nothing to worry about though.
Manhattan is not very densely populated, and people rarely are in close contact with each other.

Now they have to do the detective work to identify, contact and follow all with whom he has had contact in recent days.

Why are we not quarantining these folks upon arrival in America?

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/23/health/new-york-possible-ebola-case/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

I hear you Kenny and can not understand how anyone treating Ebola patients in Africa would not be quarantined upon arrival in the US. I read some report that he was in a bowling alley last night and another that he had been self quarantining himself. I wonder which one is true.

 

[Calliecake]

I'm about to type something and everyone on here is going to think I'm crazy. I heard about this doctor on the trash paper on line called The Daily Mail before anything was being reported here in the US. They said on ABC news at 5:30 that the doctor had been self quarantined. The Daily Mail reported he rode a subway and went to a bowling alley last night and that the bowling alley was closed today due to unforeseen reasons. If this is all true why is more being reported in London than here in the US. Everyone please tell me I'm crazy!

 

[kenny]

I'm about to type something and everyone on here is going to think I'm crazy. I heard about this doctor on the trash paper on line called Daily Mail before anything was being reported here. They said on ABC news at 5:30 that he had been self quarantined. The Daily Mail reported he rode a subway and went to a blowing alley last night and that the bowling alley was closed today due to unforeseen reasons.
If this is all true why is more being reported in London than here in the US. Everyone please tell me I'm crazy!

Funny you mention that.
Around 45 minutes ago I read he did take a subway to the bowling alley and took a taxi home.
Around 5 minutes ago I reread what I'm pretty sure is the same sources and mention of the subway and taxi ride were gone.

Perhaps the US government is censoring the media to prevent a panic in NYC.

I also read, and it is still up, that although our doctor only got a fever Wed night, last night, he has been feeling sluggish for days.
You'd think this doctor who just treated Ebola patients ... oh never mind.

 

[Sunstorm]

Unbelievable. This is really scary. I do not think people were overreacting before and yes now as Kenny stated since people usually have no close contact with each other in NYC... no reason to panic, right? They are not even quarantining the cab driver? Come on, this guy could have sneezed on him, even when he breathed he could have droplets coming out of his mouth and all over the taxi even if not on the driver, then the driver can touch those surfaces and his face. He touched things on the subway too, maybe they do not want to disinfect the subway system but they could identify which car he travelled in, his route down and up, etc. Also, absolutely true that these folks returning from Africa, especially those who treated Ebola patients should be quarantined, it seems prudent and not sure why they are not seeing that. We hear even less in the media here in Europe. It is true that there is less panic here because of that but at the same time we are even less informed. That is not a good thing. There were three deaths in Germany if I am correct and I work in the neighboring country, which is only a few hours away. This New York case seems really bad and it seems that they cannot control the situation. With no quarantine in place for people arriving from Africa and not cleaning up the subway, not alarming people who rode there is bound to cause more cases. Let's hope that is not the case but I also hoped before that now it is over in Western countries, that was not the case.

 

[TooPatient]

I'm about to type something and everyone on here is going to think I'm crazy. I heard about this doctor on the trash paper on line called Daily Mail before anything was being reported here. They said on ABC news at 5:30 that he had been self quarantined. The Daily Mail reported he rode a subway and went to a blowing alley last night and that the bowling alley was closed today due to unforeseen reasons.
If this is all true why is more being reported in London than here in the US. Everyone please tell me I'm crazy!

Funny you mention that.
Around 45 minutes ago I read he did take a subway to the bowling alley and took a taxi home.
Around 5 minutes ago I reread what I'm pretty sure is the same sources and mention of the subway and taxi ride were gone.

Perhaps the US government is censoring the media to prevent a panic in NYC.

I also read, and it is still up, that although our doctor only got a fever Wed night, last night, he has been feeling sluggish for days.
You'd think this doctor who just treated Ebola patients ... oh never mind.

Yes!!!

If they are hoping to prevent panic, REPORT the FACTS in a TIMELY fashion.
All of us picking up little tidbits from different sources and wondering how bad it actually was does not help...

There were five different articles from five different sources that I saw today. They ranged from nothing serious (5 people in WA doing the new monitoring after getting back) to one nurse monitoring with symptoms to two nurses monitoring including one with symptoms to... ?????
This is in the area I live. It does NOT make me feel better to not know what is happening. It makes me worry about how serious each of those people is and where they have been recently that I or someone I may come in contact with may have been.

I'm sure this is even worse in areas like NYC!

 

[Snowdrop13]

The BBC is saying the same, and I'd tend to believe what they report! Apparently he went jogging too, although I guess that would be pretty low risk in term of possible transmission.