A doctor from "Doctors without Borders" has come down with the Ebola virus after returning to New York from Liberia (I think).
The question must be asked. Are good Samaritans a threat to the nation? I mean seriously! These people travel to a disease infested nation, spend a couple of weeks on the ground and then travel back to the US and put an entire city at risk!
Additionally think about our foreign policy. God bless the dead, but we had journalists and now a foreign aid worker that were either beheaded/threatened to be that basically pushed us into aiding nations in the Middle East with a problem that they at the very least contributed to (ISIS received donations from several Arab nations...the same nations that are sitting on their hands while we do airstrikes).
If we can put travel bans on people traveling to the Middle East to fight for ISIS then certainly we should be able to ban people from traveling to nations in the middle of epidemics or in a state of war...even if they're going to render humanitarian assistance.
We've been lucky so far but luck is not a plan. This shit will bite one day and all the "trust the science" idiots will hate the fact that they ignored their "spider sense".
NOTE: This is part of my worse case scenario. An Ebola patient in a major North East city. The guy rode cabs, went to a bowling alley and rode the subway. They better hope they're right about how this shit is spread or else NY is fucked!
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ReplyDeletei can't delete it because i agree with it so much. i mean really? dude has been to an Ebola country and isn't automatically quarantined on his return? this is such bullshit. the authorities are playing Russian Roulette with the American public and no one in office seems to be calling them on this shit.
DeleteAnother thing ... You are a doctor. You've treated patients with Ebola.
DeleteYou left the "hot spot" without a self-imposing QUARANTINE??? Please pull the other leg, it's got bells.
The doctor isn't stupid. He KNOWS he's got Ebola. He fled W. Africa because he knows he needs premium medical care. If I was CDC, ICE (and other three-lettered acronym), I'd be keeping an eye out for returning medical practitioners from W. Africa. If they do show up in Immigrations desk, they need to be quarantined FIRST and ask questions later.
Sol,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't blame you for deleting my post.
The arrival of the doctor should've been stopped either at the departure point or at the arrival point.
Q1: Have you been in western Africa for the last four weeks?
A1: Yes.
Comment: Red flag raised
Q2: Have you been in contact with people infected with Ebola?
A2: Yes.
Comment: Take this individual outside, put him on a boat, tow the boat 120 kms EAST and out into the sea. The very minute he shows sign of Ebola, send a [your favourite projectile here] down his way. Napalm him for good measures.
Can the person from ICE who let this individual in please raise your hand? I have a grenade with your name on it!
Seriously people. When are we going to take this Ebola business SERIOUSLY.
I had a doctor appointment this am, I spoke of the Ebola nurse getting well and the nurses said, "It's coming here, we are not ready" I take that as gospel.
DeleteTravel bans don't do anything except make people take a couple more hops to get where they are going. Unless you completely sealed the national borders to all people coming and going they will never work. Look at how well the travel ban to Cuba has worked, people just drive into Mexico or Canada and fly from there to Cuba. Somebody wanting to join ISIS might fly to London (who is going to try to block flights to London?) and take trains from there to Turkey, then walk across the border. The same applies to people travelling from Ebola countries, we can ban travel from West Africa all we want, it doesn't stop people from travelling from there to places that we do allow travel from.
ReplyDeletedon't give a damn. at least we're doing something and making these bastards spend a few more dollars for the privilege of contaminating the rest of the American public. additionally the idea of automatically quarantining people that have their passport stamped from Ebola countries does nothing but make sense.
Delete"Travel bans don't do anything except make people take a couple more hops to get where they are going. Unless you completely sealed the national borders to all people coming and going they will never work."
ReplyDeleteThat's like saying I shouldn't lock my car doors because a determined thief will just break in through the windows.
A travel ban will discourage ignorant and otherwise innocent bystanders from blundering in and out of hotspots and the US. "Hey Biffy, lets skip Liberia and vacay in Mogadishu instead."
You also have to remember that Ebola is pretty aggressive, so time is key. If you're forced to spend a day or two hopscotching airplanes in order to get from Monrovia to your moms house in Montana, Thats a day or two where you might start showing symptoms before you get on US soil. Sucks for what ever country you start puking up blood in, but the important thing is that you wind up being some other countries problem.
A better comparison would be "You shouldn't worry about locking your car if you leave the windows rolled down" When it comes to international travel, it is like trying to secure a car with the windows down, until you get every single country that they could possibly be travelling from or through, it won't do anything but slow determined people down. Time may help control the spread of an infectious disease, but then again it may also contaminate more people in between, increasing the threat. Quarantine needs to take place at the source, whether it is Ebola in Africa or ISIS in the middle east. The international community needs to ban travel out of the Ebola nations, keep people from leaving them in the first place, until the infection runs its course. Quarantine and test them on the border, when they show up clean let them travel. Of course the last time the United States was able to secure a border was the DMZ in Korea in the 50's. Don't forget that the Patriot Act came about because the govt. HAD to do something...I could see something equally police-state happening with travel and our borders here.
ReplyDeleteA person is not particularly infectious until they start spewing vomit and crap. This guy had the education and professionalism to self-monitor, and seek help when he had a temperature, before he advanced to a stage where he could be a risk. That said, back in the day there were routine quarantine facilities at east coast ports-of-entry. If you looked sick, off you went. We might see this again. The good thing is winter is coming (also for Ferguson,) and tropical diseases do not do well in cold conditions. On another note, the preppers are going crazy, trying to cash in on anarchy and scaring old people. i got an email based on a Washington Times web subscription, trying to sell me a generator....
ReplyDeleteBut that's the point, Charley.
DeleteIf someone from ICE had used his/her common sense and asked the two most vital questions, this wouldn't have made the 10 o'clock news.
It's boils down to the same thing I keep ranting on: People are not used to COMMON SENSE. The entire "mechanism" is or are PROCEDURES driven. Sorry, there's no procedure/instructions for me to ask the most vital question. You may go through, sir.
WTF! He's spent >3 weeks in W. Africa "hot spot", he's got DAILY CONTACT with Ebola sufferers/patient and some @#$%^&* imbecile let him through immigration?
America can have the strictest regime of who can come in and out of the US of A. But an American citizen with Ebola is NOT AN ISSUE.
Just quarantine everyone that got back from africa and this is it.
ReplyDeleteSol,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if you're interested, but it's related to this topic: Ebola Crosses New Border as Mali Confirms a Case
These good samaritans need to love us here at home as much as they love helping other people.
ReplyDeleteIf they really cared they would self quarantine but they don't care about us American's.
As I said before, "It's good when a man dives of the dock to save a drowning persons, you don't have the right to drag all of us into the water with you."
they just had a news conference awhile ago. Any nurses or doctors coming back from Africa that gave care to Ebola patients will be placed on mandatory quarantine........ Per New Jersey and New York governors.
ReplyDeleteHow can you expect people not to risk exposing themselves if you don't warn them to expose themselves. The gov is talking out both sides of its mouths. You can't say "Things are very serious in Africa. But if you are bored and you want to visit for no good reason in particular, we won't do anything to hinder or slow you down. As a matter of fact, we're not even going to politely advise against it."
ReplyDelete