I don't understand how the family who treated Duncan at home in that Texas apartment didn't get the virus. All accounts say that he had full-blown symptoms in that apartment. Those people were quarantined and then what?....it would be a PR coup for those who yawn at Ebola if those people were safe and sound; it would be a PR disaster if just one of them got Ebola and news got out.
The Centers for Disease Control is one of those elite federal agencies that people hitherto assumed was, so to speak, immune to the pathologies of less glamorous government bureaucracies. It turns out it’s the DMV with test tubes – just the usual “Sorry? Did we say you need two copies of the green form? We meant you need three copies of the pink form” routine with extra lethality. The Protocols of the Elders of Druid Hills have proved to be boundlessly mutable and mostly honored in the breach:
~Don’t worry, the Protocols are in place – except that Thomas Duncan, the original Ebola patient, was left in an open area of the Dallas emergency room for hours and the medical staff treating him did not have protective clothing for the first two days.
~Don’t worry, they did eventually get fully sealed, protective clothing – well, except for their necks, which remained exposed.
~Don’t worry, exposed medical staff aren’t supposed to fly – except that Nurse Amber Vinson got on a flight to Cleveland with a fever.
~Well, okay, but that was totally in breach of the Protocols – except that Nurse Vinson called the CDC to check and they said, “Sure, get on the plane. What’s the worst that can happen? And make sure you share the bag of mini-pretzels…”
~Well, okay, but the next time Nurse Vinson got a flight, everyone followed the Protocols and wore hazmat suits – except for the guy with the clipboard, who works for the CDC and so can’t be expected to know all this Protocol stuff…
As I said yesterday, the mortality rate for Ebola is 70 per cent – if you go nowhere near a hospital and just stay in your primitive disease-ridden village. If you go to a Liberian hospital, the mortality rate goes down a whopping three per cent to 67 per cent. One had assumed that western hospitals would be able to lower that significantly, but Hazmat Bob’s Ministry of Propaganda is not terribly reassuring on that front.
Hype happens and paranoia thrives when responsibility, transparency, and accountability to the people no longer motivates the government. Basic common sense is demonized and every new days brings a new development that we had been led to believe previously was impossible and/or unacceptable.
So OF COURSE some attention-seeking blowhard takes advantage of the situation to scamper quickly up to the moral high ground (of the moment) and give everyone a big lecture. Unfortunately, he got his facts wrong. (The second nurse did have a temperature when she flew.) Also, Shep, who's panicking? Being concerned about the obvious breakdown in government competency isn't panicking. Shut up, Shep.
The quarantined family members of Thomas Eric Duncan are set to be released on Oct. 19, after having spent 21 days in isolation — the amount of time widely considered to be the maximum duration for Ebola incubation. But is that really long enough? New research from Drexel University, published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks, suggests the answer may be no.
13 comments:
I don't understand how the family who treated Duncan at home in that Texas apartment didn't get the virus. All accounts say that he had full-blown symptoms in that apartment. Those people were quarantined and then what?....it would be a PR coup for those who yawn at Ebola if those people were safe and sound; it would be a PR disaster if just one of them got Ebola and news got out.
Thoughts?
Everything about Ebola is new, shocking and horrifying: "full blown symptoms"?
I think this disease will shape the mid-term elections more than any other factor.
Obola's Katrina.
And Abu Ghraib.
And My Pet Goat.
chickelit said...
I don't understand how the family who treated Duncan at home in that Texas apartment didn't get the virus.
Stay tuned, it has a 3 week incubation.
Ebola must have cured ISIS. Can't find too much on it now.
Good link. A public service message.
Your commie god's in trouble, ARM.
The Centers for Disease Control is one of those elite federal agencies that people hitherto assumed was, so to speak, immune to the pathologies of less glamorous government bureaucracies. It turns out it’s the DMV with test tubes – just the usual “Sorry? Did we say you need two copies of the green form? We meant you need three copies of the pink form” routine with extra lethality. The Protocols of the Elders of Druid Hills have proved to be boundlessly mutable and mostly honored in the breach:
~Don’t worry, the Protocols are in place – except that Thomas Duncan, the original Ebola patient, was left in an open area of the Dallas emergency room for hours and the medical staff treating him did not have protective clothing for the first two days.
~Don’t worry, they did eventually get fully sealed, protective clothing – well, except for their necks, which remained exposed.
~Don’t worry, exposed medical staff aren’t supposed to fly – except that Nurse Amber Vinson got on a flight to Cleveland with a fever.
~Well, okay, but that was totally in breach of the Protocols – except that Nurse Vinson called the CDC to check and they said, “Sure, get on the plane. What’s the worst that can happen? And make sure you share the bag of mini-pretzels…”
~Well, okay, but the next time Nurse Vinson got a flight, everyone followed the Protocols and wore hazmat suits – except for the guy with the clipboard, who works for the CDC and so can’t be expected to know all this Protocol stuff…
As I said yesterday, the mortality rate for Ebola is 70 per cent – if you go nowhere near a hospital and just stay in your primitive disease-ridden village. If you go to a Liberian hospital, the mortality rate goes down a whopping three per cent to 67 per cent. One had assumed that western hospitals would be able to lower that significantly, but Hazmat Bob’s Ministry of Propaganda is not terribly reassuring on that front.
Mark Steyn.
Remain Calm All Is Well
Hype happens and paranoia thrives when responsibility, transparency, and accountability to the people no longer motivates the government. Basic common sense is demonized and every new days brings a new development that we had been led to believe previously was impossible and/or unacceptable.
So OF COURSE some attention-seeking blowhard takes advantage of the situation to scamper quickly up to the moral high ground (of the moment) and give everyone a big lecture. Unfortunately, he got his facts wrong. (The second nurse did have a temperature when she flew.)
Also, Shep, who's panicking? Being concerned about the obvious breakdown in government competency isn't panicking. Shut up, Shep.
Here's a more appropriate Public Service Announcement:
Get Your Shit Together
The Duncan family's quarantine ends in just two days, but...
The quarantined family members of Thomas Eric Duncan are set to be released on Oct. 19, after having spent 21 days in isolation — the amount of time widely considered to be the maximum duration for Ebola incubation. But is that really long enough? New research from Drexel University, published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks, suggests the answer may be no.
Progressives like public service announcements.
"Get in line. get in line. don't panic. neat and orderly."
The more you know.
Rainbow.
Shepard Smith has annoyed me ever since Katrina.
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