UPDATE: The below is from the CDC's website. The page has since been taken down but the WayBack Machine has an archived copy...
I've been trying to wrap my head around the thinking that has led to US citizens with Ebola being brought into the country.
My questions......
1. Does this make sense? They're dazzling the public with all the precautions they're taking but if they weren't being brought into the country it wouldn't be necessary. This disease has a 50 - 90% mortality rate. From what I've read its a horrible way to go. Why take the risk?
2. Who actually approved this? Can the CDC order that US citizens infected with a disease be brought into the country? Would they have to get the approval of the President? They aren't telling us who the decision maker was on this issue so we can't focus our questions....and rage at that person or agency. Why aren't they telling us?
3. What is the contingency planning if sugar turns to shit? I haven't heard a thing about the Feds or more importantly what the State and Local govts will do in case the worst happens. I was told from day one to always plan for the worst. I can careless about the rosy predictions. What will happen if this thing goes sideways.
4. Word has it that the Pentagon is considering sending personnel to help with the outbreak. The Peace Corps is bringing its people back home. It has a 21 day incubation period. Some of the Peace Corps volunteers can be bringing back an epidemic. We're about to put servicemembers in a fire zone. Is that smart?
I might be being alarmist but this whole thing smacks of bullshit. I've seen the govt in action when it comes to disasters. I've never seen them deal with an epidemic.
Confidence is not high. Alarmist or not I will check preps.
Although the disease is rare, it has the potential for person -to-person spread, ... number of droplets expelled into the air by talking, sneezing, o r coughing.So spare me your normalcy bias. I'm viewing this in a worse case scenario. I do not know how we turned into a society that only looked at things through the prism of stuff working out as planned. I wasn't raised that way and when I look at decisions like this its with an eye of what could go wrong...or more plainly...what happens when sugar turns to shit!
I've been trying to wrap my head around the thinking that has led to US citizens with Ebola being brought into the country.
My questions......
1. Does this make sense? They're dazzling the public with all the precautions they're taking but if they weren't being brought into the country it wouldn't be necessary. This disease has a 50 - 90% mortality rate. From what I've read its a horrible way to go. Why take the risk?
2. Who actually approved this? Can the CDC order that US citizens infected with a disease be brought into the country? Would they have to get the approval of the President? They aren't telling us who the decision maker was on this issue so we can't focus our questions....and rage at that person or agency. Why aren't they telling us?
3. What is the contingency planning if sugar turns to shit? I haven't heard a thing about the Feds or more importantly what the State and Local govts will do in case the worst happens. I was told from day one to always plan for the worst. I can careless about the rosy predictions. What will happen if this thing goes sideways.
4. Word has it that the Pentagon is considering sending personnel to help with the outbreak. The Peace Corps is bringing its people back home. It has a 21 day incubation period. Some of the Peace Corps volunteers can be bringing back an epidemic. We're about to put servicemembers in a fire zone. Is that smart?
I might be being alarmist but this whole thing smacks of bullshit. I've seen the govt in action when it comes to disasters. I've never seen them deal with an epidemic.
Confidence is not high. Alarmist or not I will check preps.
CDC has absolute authority when it comes to Isolation and Quarantine in the United States. They decide who, where, when and how. They are the decision makers, as well as first and last authority. They can even order US president into quarantine for indefinite time, and nobody can override them.
ReplyDeleteThey are US CITIZENS. Stop being a DESPICABLE ASSHOLE about this.
ReplyDeleteInfected US citizens... he's thinking about the worst case scenario in which trying to save one citizen would cost the lives of many more. Would you try saving one individual if there was the possibility of killing a hundred others in the process?
DeleteThen I guess we just need to give out flame throwers instead of influenza shots. Cause that's basically the alternative. Influenza kills more people a year than Ebola FYI.
DeleteWhy don't we take them to Guantanamo? On the plus side, that could solve the terrorist catch-and-release problem.... ducking......
ReplyDelete*Does this make sense?*
ReplyDeleteI'd say it does. The best chance of the infected for survival lies with high-quality care they can receive in an American hospital, instead of west-African facilities. In addition, this will give CDC and USAMRIID doctors a much better chance to examine the new Ebola outbreak - to determine if this is a new strain, and if so, in what way it differs from other strains. I believe they already have personnel in Africa, but the more immediate access to top of the line labs and facilities in the US would aid in their efforts.
*Who actually approved this?*
I believe it was the CDC
*What is the contingency planning if sugar turns to shit?*
I'm going to guess there isn't one.
*Word has it that the Pentagon is considering sending personnel to help with the outbreak.*
This is hardly uncommon. The uniformed Public Health Service and various DoD medical services have a long history of working overseas at major outbreaks of disease, especially when they involve potentially new and dangerous strains.
*Does this make sense?*
ReplyDeleteI'd say it does. The best chance of the infected for survival lies with high-quality care they can receive in an American hospital, instead of west-African facilities. In addition, this will give CDC and USAMRIID doctors a much better chance to examine the new Ebola outbreak - to determine if this is a new strain, and if so, in what way it differs from other strains. I believe they already have personnel in Africa, but the more immediate access to top of the line labs and facilities in the US would aid in their efforts.
*Who actually approved this?*
I believe it was the CDC
*What is the contingency planning if sugar turns to shit?*
I'm going to guess there isn't one.
*Word has it that the Pentagon is considering sending personnel to help with the outbreak.*
This is hardly uncommon. The uniformed Public Health Service and various DoD medical services have a long history of working overseas at major outbreaks of disease, especially when they involve potentially new and dangerous strains.
The only good part is this is the worst outbreak and its only infected 1400 or so. Maybe this thing wont spread like wildfire, but we wont know for another month.
ReplyDeleteThought... Terrorist get a few of their guys infected in Africa then send them over here to start an outbreak. Or start an outbreak in Mexico which will send a flood of illegals our way who may or may not be infected. in a month there would be outbreaks in about every state. the CDC would not be able to contain that mess.
ReplyDeleteEbola virus is actually relatively hard to contract. It requires direct fluid contact. It would take a lot of work to weaponize ebola virus.
DeleteIt can be transmitted by cough, sneeze, or simple breathing within roughly 3 feet of an infected person. The CDC's own fact sheet says so, and that was based on an earlier strain.
DeleteYes, if you are within 3 feet of an infected person and breath in as they cough or sneeze then there is a small chance to be infected. However, that is a far cry from it being airborne like say Influenza for instance. A simple medical or construction mask basically eliminated that vector and the virus dies so quickly in an aerosol that its not viable. I'm much more afraid of a smallpox outbreak than anything ebola related.
Delete1) the research is why they are doing this. There are sick and contagious people that come into the US on a daily basis with little or no containment protocol in place. If someone that is sick being brought in under full containment makes you afraid, then you probably shouldn't leave your house. Plenty of other viruses out there that get carried in on a daily basis. And its not like ebola isn't already in the US along with a massive host of much nastier stuff.
ReplyDeleteAlso it should be pointed out that ebolavirus has on more than 1 occasion been imported to the US via importation of monkeys for research purposes. There is a reason that one of the major know strains of Ebola Virus is called *Reston* Ebola Virus. This particular strain has been found in non-human primates in Texas, Penn, and of course Virginia.
2)CDC. It is unlikely they would have to get approval from the president. The CDC is and always has been granted wide deference wrt to their work. Technically, they are one of the most powerful organizations in the US government being able to order the isolation and detention of pretty much anyone including the US president or foreign dignitaries (even those with diplomatic immunity).
3) The same contingency plans that are gone over every year for like the past 5 decades. All states along with the Feds in concert with the CDC have epidemic preparedness plans and contingencies. These plans have been enacted at various levels many times since they were put into place.
4) CDC has control of those brought back home. They will likely be fully tested and isolated until cleared.
From my understanding the time period between the latency period and end of the incubation period is very short, meaning you're already near death by time you can spread it. Plus Ebola is spread only through close contact, so an outbreak could be done, if handled right. This isn't flu.
ReplyDelete*so an outbreak could be contained
DeleteSanjay Gupta on CNN made a really neat point about Ebola this morning, explaining the difference between 'infectious' and 'contagious'. Ebola is highly infectious, meaning it doesn't take much contact with infected bodily fluid to become infected. On the other hand, Ebola is not very contagious. It doesn't spread very easily. An unprotected person could be in a room with an Ebola victim without much risk if they keep their distance.
ReplyDelete