 |
| Beaumont, Texas, September 19,2008--Base camps such as this one in Beaumont, TX are used to provide temporary housing for first responders, FEMA personnel and other agencies who are working in areas affected by Hurricane Ike. Photo by Patsy Lynch/FEMA - |
This is gonna be controversial. This is gonna get me alot of hate but the question needs to be asked.
IF we're gonna get serious about containing this outbreak, then we need to quarantine the infected and even those that had contact with them.
We can't do that with hospitals. We can do that with FEMA camps. Yeah. I know. Controversial. The thing that many outside some of the communities I dabble in call urban legends, but I know that facilities exist.
But lets look at the stark reality of this outbreak in Dallas.
1. The hospital that is the focus of all this has 3 infectious disease beds. 3. Currently two are occupied.
2. These patients require around the clock care. This hospital is on the verge of a shut down because these patients are requiring so much care.
3. The CBRN specialist in the US military are part of the National Guard and Reserves. They have the training to deal with this outbreak.
4. We don't know what we don't know. Travel is still being allowed. Even if we stopped it today, we can expect others to come down with this disease and that will have a ripple effect around the country, basically shutting down medical services to the wider population.
But I'm just spit balling here.
We have an election in about 3 weeks. The President would have to declare a medical state of emergency to make it happen and if he did that the Democrats would almost certainly lose the Senate (although if this gets worse they will anyway).
So what are we left with?
Another tool in the tool box remaining unused because people in leadership are so focused on maintaining a state of normalcy instead of working a problem to the best of their ability.
This will get worse. Its almost guaranteed.
MAJOR HAT TIP to Tony for sparking this post.
NOTE: Aesop pointed out something I need to clear up. Camp is a generic term in the way that I'm using it. I could see something a bit more organized being used. First we have plenty of trailers to house family units in. Second, the definitely infected would be housed in a medical facility with National Guard/Reserve medical personnel treating them. Third, we would have a separate area, again with trailers for family units that came in contact with people that were infected...if its a family then they can be together. Individuals would be housed in separate trailers. The point here is that we can segregate these at risk/or sick people from the general population and DO REAL PROBLEM SOLVING ON KEEPING THIS FROM GETTING OUT OF HAND! Like I said, I'm spit balling but organizing a proper camp is child's play. Give me real parameters on the disease, give me a proper personnel roster to handle sanitation, food etc...an adequate number of vehicles and a security detail to keep order and I could do this on a napkin. And I'm not part of a planning staff. Oh and make sure the Camp Commander is a no-nonsense guy or gal and we could nip this in the bud.
