You have got to be kidding me!!!
Posted on 10/02/2014 2:24:56 PM PDT by jazusamo
Health officials are refusing to answer growing questions about their response to the first Ebola case in the United States.
Under intense questioning from reporters, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Texas health department and the City of Dallas repeatedly declined Thursday to provide details about the steps being taken to prevent an outbreak.
Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey, who participated in one press call Thursday, would not identify or describe the four individuals who have been quarantined due to possible exposure to Ebola. They were later referred to as "family members" at a separate press conference. Officials confirmed that roughly 100 people are being questioned about possible exposure to the virus. Only a "handful" likely could have caught it, and no one but the patient is showing symptoms, they said.
Neither would Lakey explain why the quarantine order was necessary, saying only that it brings "confidence" that key medical monitoring will take place. Another official said later that the four individuals sought to leave home, but would not provide more detail.
He also declined to answer questions about the hospital communication error that allowed the Ebola patient, identified by media outlets as Thomas Eric Duncan, to return home Friday after seeking treatment.
"Unfortunately, connections weren't made related to travel history and symptoms," Lakey said. "I don't have that final analysis right now. … We're still investigating how the information fell through the cracks," he said.
While health officials have vowed transparency as they deal with the Ebola patient, they are also charged with maintaining calm and say they are leery of spreading misinformation.
"We will give you all the valid information we have as soon as we have it," said CDC Director Tom Frieden.
But limiting disclosure can undermine agencies' credibility when information spills out on its own.
Neither Texas nor the CDC has confirmed Duncan's identity or his flight path through Brussels and Washington, for example. The Liberian government revealed the patient's name on Wednesday, while United Airlines confirmed his presence on one of its flights.
Frieden acknowledged Thursday that Ebola would pose a risk to the United States until the epidemic stops in West Africa.
"The plain truth is that we can't make the risk zero until the outbreak is controlled," he said. "What we can do is minimize that risk … by working to ensure that there are no more individuals that will be exposed [here]."
Frieden also said that, in theory, a sneeze or cough could spread the virus from someone experiencing Ebola symptoms. Officials had previously downplayed this possibility, focusing on direct contact with bodily fluids.
"There are certainly theoretical situations where someone sneezes … and you touch your eyes or mouth or nose," and catch the virus from any transmitted particles, he said. “[But] realistically you can say what may be theoretically possible as opposed to what actually happens in the real world," he added.
Texas health officials faced their own barrage of questions at a Thursday afternoon press conference.
Reporters asked: How many of Duncan's younger contacts were in school this week? Why weren't the four individuals quarantined in a medical facility? Why weren't soiled linens that likely carry the virus immediately removed?
The event became increasingly confrontational.
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings scolded journalists for being "part of the problem" while calling the response to the case "at best, disorganized."
"It is, at best, disorganized out there and we have some members of the press that are creating a bit more of that," he said. "We need everybody to be professional."
Journalists complained about the lack of information as officials left.
"Is this transparency?" asked one reporter. "You bring us all here and then only take six or seven questions? … I have a job to do."
Well said and the SPI doesn’t get more serious than this.
Insanity, get them the hell out of there!
Let’s face facts. Anyone with a current US Visa from one of the effected countries is highly likely to hop a flight to the US if they think they have been exposed. They are unlikely to get treatment where they are coming from and highly likely to get treatment free here. It is the duty of the State Dept., Homeland Security and the CDC to keep these people out of the country and they can’t rely on some mild health check at the point of departure. Failing to do their duty..we will have more cases just like the one that is going on now. Cut off the visa’s and travel from these countries now...
They were already exposed. Don’t we want them to stay quarantined until the incubation period has passed?
Amazingly enough, we had to learn from the Liberian government that the man had been exposed and lied on his visa application!
Cutting off travel from infected countries is the ONLY responsible thing to do.
The Saudis already have. I wonder when they are going to cut US off?
If Ebola was wide spread I’d agree with you. However this is patient zero. So move these poor people out of the infected apartment. Give them a chance. (then deport them)
Or the Feds are deliberately facilitating a crisis which could be used to justify an exponential growth of government size, control, etc.
The hard part is going to be getting any real information about what’s actually going on.
Sorting through disinformation and speculating about the omissions in reporting will be maddening for some.
Perhaps the scare will cause enough people to self quarantine and miss out on voting?
I’m sure there are more than a couple of ways the elite can benefit from this, whether it is real or perceived. Same results either way, except for the mass death part.
The question I have about the Canadian experiment relates to distance between piglets and monkeys. Under ‘results’ the study says there was a wire barrier “20 cm” in front of the bottom monkey cages, cleaned separately with running water. Is less than an inch separation enough to prevent contact/splashup from body fluids (piglet snorting, etc.) or cleaning process? Can these results be replicated at larger distances of separation?
http://www.nature.com/srep/2012/121115/srep00811/full/srep00811.html
Is she wearing sandals?? Unbelievable..
No warning signs or anything? WOW
Yeah. Sandals, walking in the runoff. No protective clothing on the crew. Pressure washer blasting overspray everywhere. It’s unbelievable.
I wonder how long this virus can live outside of its host? If the pic is legitimate, I hope not long.
Agree with you. After all the reporting on Ebola and those two guys were allowed to do that.
That is insane. The head of the CDC should be fired for allowing this train wreck to continue.
All this is predictable. The public can go to hell.
They probably tore into that “rogue nurse” that only marked the chart but didn’t “fully communicate” the seriousness to the naive and untrained doctor who treated the patient. Had the doctor further consulted the “rogue nurse” I’m sure the “rogue nurse” would have respectfully and humbly suggested that antibiotics were not appropriate.
20 cm is about 8 inches, but I agree that it would be nice to have some probability of transmission versus distance. Some physicist knows the transport distribution of droplets versus size and air currents; some doctor knows the likely density of virus particles in cough droplets. Maybe they can put their heads together. I know how to do the math, but don’t know any of the pieces.
oy vey
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