HHS secretary: There may be other cases of Ebola in the U.S.

Posted by $ Your_Name_Goes_Here 9 years, 5 months ago to News
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Clearly this guy is mistaken. I distinctly recall our Dear Leader assuring us that there would be no cases of Ebola "spreading to the US".
SOURCE URL: http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2554588


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  • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
    This one isn't a hard problem to fix...

    Seal the airports in the epidemic countries, if we have to quarantine people for 21 days before they may show symptoms, its moronic to think that screening people at the airport if they are 20 days from showing symptoms is going to do anything to keep ebola from spreading around the world.

    Obviously our awesome health infrastructure failed to detect the problem, or save the guy... now the doctors are throwing the intake ER nurses under the bus.. as if "ebola" would have been at the top of either of their suspicions.

    We have to be incredibly honest with ourselves, if this gets to Mexico or Central America, we're screwed. Its going to look like the zombie apocalypse. Stock up on ammo!
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    • Posted by hattrup 9 years, 5 months ago
      What is an "epidemic Country"?

      # of cases? and what is a case? (symptoms - according to who?, actual deaths? or?)
      percent of population with known Ebola?

      I still think you need to look not just at the fatality rate of infected (high for Ebola), but also
      the ease of infection, and overall death rate in the population (both MUCH higher for flu)
      - any rational plan should address all communicable threats, not just those in the biggest headlines.
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      • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
        Umm, no, Ebola is about an 8 out of 10 fatality rate, the only ones that die of the flu are already weakened from something else - HIV, diabetes, severe asthma, etc.
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        • Posted by hattrup 9 years, 5 months ago
          infection rate lower for Ebola. Fatalities per 100,000 population much lower (200 times lower)
          than flu or other causes of death like malaria.

          Fatality rate of those infected with Ebola is high, like I said, but deaths per 100,000 population is low.

          Still appears to be fear mongering headlines to me.

          Preventable deaths are so much higher from so many other causes than Ebola.
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          • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
            So, your point? I said to shut down flights from poor west African nations until they get it under control. Have you ever been to Africa? I have, the Congo, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Egypt.

            Egypt = 20 million people with open trench sewers..

            Rwanda = machete Attacks because someone declared a blood feud.

            Zaire = 3 million Rwandan refugees, 5 porta-potties and 6 bags of rice (warlords kept the train loads of it)

            They have no ability to resolve their problems, so why allow it to spread?

            In Ethiopia Al Qaeda sent a woman with a baby stroller (with a mortar in it) in front of our troop bus and the Ethiopian driver just ran her down and we bounced over her. If he would have stopped, a rocket attack was a certainty.

            It's pointless, seal it off.
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            • Posted by hattrup 9 years, 5 months ago
              Well - your points are somewhat wandering (but the intent is clear) -
              but my current point is that I think your and other suggestions regarding Ebola are an unbalanced overreaction with little specific info or data supporting them.

              However - you are probably under reacting to the complete out of control tragedy that encompasses most of Africa. It is full of stuff (dangerous pests of all sizes) much worse than Ebola (for now) is.
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              • Posted by $ 9 years, 5 months ago
                Your argument is like saying a plane crash is less dangerous than a car crash, because plane crashes are statistically less likely to occur.

                Which would you rather be in: a plane crash or a car crash?
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              • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
                That's my point, though historical data on Ebola isn't effectual, I can't think of an outbreak in an urban area with air travel before. In the past, the overland routes to an aircraft would do the person in, now they can jump on a plane 2 hrs later.

                If it spreads to Central America like I said, with similar squalid conditions, the general panic will drive gigantic migrations here.

                Did you happen to notice the similarity between the current child respiratory outbreak and the places we shipped the kids to?

                I travel a lot for work, 90,000 miles and climbing this year, but I also take a lot of immunization and I'm careful. Most people are not, they don't have a clue what they are doing. But then I take 1 carry on, my briefcase with antibacterial in it, and my TSA precheck card to blow by all the sniffling kids in line.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years, 5 months ago
    I actually know some die hard libs that believe everything coming out of DC, contradictions and all. Nice people in every other way -- it's a pity they are insane.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years, 5 months ago
    They can't even keep their stories straight.

    Everyone see to your own immunity. Your only protection is that you can provide for yourself.
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  • Posted by wiggys1 9 years, 5 months ago
    did we need her to tell us this? I don't think so. one more notch in b0's belt that he will have in his library in the volcano in where ever he came from.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 9 years, 5 months ago
    Quarantine the countries. If any of our healthcare workers want to go over there as volunteers, part of their commitment is then to go through a 21 day quarantine before they're flown back. Easy, simple, non-discriminatory. What's the bitch? It'll still get in, but maybe not so rapidly or extensively. And this argument that quarantine would slow getting control of the epidemic is one of the more ridiculous I've heard. Quarantine just lets those that have the disease die where they caught it rather than here.

    On a side note, I think we'll discover that EV-D68, the relatively new respiratory disease now in most of our states and maybe tied to paralysis came in with the illegals from central America. It's been reported down there for more than a year. But it's just not getting the news spread that Ebola's getting.

    Personally, I'm getting really tired of al of this. The one arguably justified responsibility of government is to protect the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of the American citizen, and the responsibility of what used to be called the 4th branch of government, news organizations, was to provide news and help to curtail government excess and corruption.
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  • Posted by $ arthuroslund 9 years, 5 months ago
    The best way to stop the spread of an Infectious disease is by quarantine. I remember when AIDS was first discovered. Quarantine was suggested by epidemiologists and rejected by the political community as discrimination. How many died as a result? Many believe that AIDS could have been eliminated by quarantining carriers before the disease was spread.
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    • Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 5 months ago
      Not sure how they could have effectively quarantined given the length of time an individual can remain without overt symptoms with AIDS. That had likely escaped quarantineability (tm) before it was recognized as the danger it is.

      Especially given the less developed testing and identification of the time.
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      • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
        In Ethiopia and most of east Africa, it was believed if a man (with HIV) had sex with a virgin, he would give the aids to her (or him), so rape of 3-7 yr olds was rampant.
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        • Posted by Technocracy 9 years, 5 months ago
          Yes that increased the spread within those countries and elevated rape to torturous murder in the process.

          My point was and is that those infected with HIV were contagious and infecting others before they were identified as sick. Because of that I have a tough time believing it could have been recognized as the danger it is before it had spread outside Africa and begun expanding world wide. I am no medical doctor but i cant see a logical model where it could have been effectively contained that long ago.
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          • Posted by scojohnson 9 years, 5 months ago
            True.

            The problem with Ebola reaching the U.S. is this:

            1- Ebola remains very contagious from a dead corpse. Embalming and holding a funeral is just not a good idea. Are we prepared to burn grandmas body in the front yard?

            2. I think it's potentially worse here, the numbers are irrelevant because the previous population sizes in outbreak areas were small, you have to look at per capita rates. In the U.S., people have a strong work ethic, they will think they have the flu and still take a subway to work.

            3. It's body-fluid transmitted, but sneezing and coughing, and sex all facilitate that.
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