Lots of mistakes were made all around. Here is the thing. This is new. People did what they thought was right at the time. I think all thought and energy should go toward solving the problems and learning from mistakes. I do not believe anyone purposely made things worse. Sometimes mistakes are the ONLY way we humans learn. If we punish everyone who makes a mistake we only manufacture a population of liars. It does not help solve a serious problem to put everyone on the defensive. We need 100% of thought and energy focused on solving the problem.
Just my thoughts on the matter. I lash out, too, mostly toward the lawsuit league. It is appalling to me that so much energy had to be spent on defending people against the charge of racism when their energy was needed to protect the workers and avoid spread of the disease.
I totally agree with you for the most part. Like you, I tend to be a problem solver and spreading blame doesn’t solve a darn thing. Mistakes were made...let’s fix them. I especially agree about the “lawsuit league”.
As the mistakes continue, though, it makes me painfully aware how woefully unprepared we are for an epidemic...of any type. I was one of those complacent Americans that truly believed that the US was more sophisticated and educated than the folks in Liberia. As events unfold, I now see that we are not. And how things got so out of control in Africa. The possibility exists here. I spend my time shaking my head and saying “are ya kiddn’ me?”
Ebola is level 4 biohazard. That is nothing new.
Level 4 biohazards require very specialized equipment and training:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level
Level 4 REQUIRES pressurized suits, not just covering up with masks.
VERY few civilian labs/hospitals are capable of dealing with a level 4 biohazard. Yet the federal government pretended that the hospitals were “ready” to deal with it and all was well.
That wasn't simply a mistake. That was seriously negligent in the face of well known facts.
True - except for the fact the sole purpose of the CDC is to be prepared to handle something such as Ebola entering the US. It appears the billions of dollars spent on the CDC has been wasted because when the rubber hit the road, they had four flat tires.
Your argument is like saying we have a fire department waiting around for a fire and when called they wait and see if the locals can put it out before responding.
I don’t blame the locals, this was totally unexpected, but everything after the patient was diagnosed falls directly onto the CDC and by extension Obama.