The world is in denial about Ebola’s true threat

WaPo ^ | 23 Oct 2014 | Michael Gerson

[Rummyfan]

“The Ebola virus has multiplied in a medium of denial. There was the initial denial that a rural disease, causing isolated outbreaks that burned out quickly, could become a sustained, urban killer. There is the (understandable) denial of patients in West Africa, who convince themselves that they have flu or malaria (the symptoms are similar to Ebola) and remain in communities. And there is the form of denial now practiced by Western governments — a misguided belief that an incremental response can get ahead of an exponentially growing threat.”

[Rummyfan]

A nurse working at the Ebola holding center at the Ganta Hospital prepares to enter the compounds high-risk zone by putting on protective equipment, on October 18, 2014 in Ganta, Liberia.

[Pietro]

Its not “the world” that’s in denial about ebola...

[Rummyfan]

It is such a relief about that Ebola thing. The threat of a U.S. outbreak turned out to be overhyped. A military operation is underway to help those poor Liberians. An Ebola czar (what is his name again?) has been appointed to coordinate the U.S. government response. The growth of the disease in Africa, by some reports, seems to have slowed. On to the next crisis.

Except that this impression of control is an illusion, and a particularly dangerous one.

And I think this article preceded the news from New York.

[woofie]

Maybe Obama will read about this in the newspaper...Does he read the Washington Post?

[JPG]

who will Obama blame this time?

[caligatrux]

Said it before and I'll say it again: when ebola starts breaking out in South America, we're done.

[Dallas59]

Well...with idiot doctors and a CDC that doesn’t know it’s a$$ from a hole in the ground...

[null and void]

Just like FR's very own ex-spurts!

Bring Out Your Dead

Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.

The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.

So far the false positive rate is 100%.

At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.

*sigh* Such is life, and death...

[wtd]

Some additional Ebola updates for this morning:

• WaPo: Ebola 'nightmare' for nurses as union demands protection for their members 10/24/2014 6:30AM

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• NBC: Texas Tort Reform Laws Will Make Ebola Lawsuits Difficult October 24, 2014 3:38AM PDT

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• CTV: Global markets retreat on fears of NY Ebola case Oct. 24, 2014 6:17AM

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• TASS: Russia launches Ebola vaccine production 10/24/2014 UTC+4

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• MetroUK: Ebola vaccines have been sitting on a shelf for ten years waiting for human trials 10/24/2014 10:54AM

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• Breitbart: North Korea Bans All Foreign Tourists Over Ebola Fears October 24, 2014 3:22AM PDT

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• MNT: Ebola survivors' blood to undergo evaluation as a treatment option 10/24/2014 3AM PST

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• eScienceNews: Paper-based synthetic gene networks could enable rapid detection of ebola and other viruses October 24, 2014 5:20

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  Slaves of allah race bait:

• AlJiz: US West Africans facing Ebola Stigma 10/24/2014 10:59

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• FoxNews: US government grants five open Ebola waste permits 10/24/2014

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• APWire: After 1st Ebola case in NYC, 3 others quarantined October 24, 2014 NYC's city's health commissioner, Mary Bassett, said Spencer's fiancee and two friends had been quarantined but showed no symptoms.

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• Ebola's evolutionary roots are more ancient than previously thought, study finds October 24, 2014

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• Reuters: In NYC Ebola case, crowded city complicates efforts to track exposure 10/24/2014 8 hours ago

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• TankerOperator: Shipboard Ebola protection kit available October 24, 2014

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• Twitchy: These photos of the NYPD cleaning up the Ebola crime scene might worry you October 24, 2014 7:32AM

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• BBC: Ebola crisis: Dozens monitored after first Mali case October 24, 2014 7:06AM

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• AP: NY Governor: Ebola doc went out in 'limited way' 9 minutes ago

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• WDT: CDC details new Ebola response and prep teams October 23, 6:00PM

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• FoxNews: Spanish hospital releases five patients under watch for Ebola October 24, 2014

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• WPTZ: Obama offers federal help to NY with Ebola case 10/24/2014 7:18AM EDT

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• WGAL: Rwanda reverses plan to screen US visitors 10/24/2014 7:04AM EDT

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• IANS: Spanish nurse 'depressed' over continued isolation 12 minutes ago

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• Ebola hotline logs nearly 500 calls in first week 48 minutes ago

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• NYT: Can you get Ebola from a bowling ball? October 23, 2014 9:41PM

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• Reuters: Six in quarantine in Connecticut as US steps up Ebola checks October 23, 2014 6:12PM EDT

[qam1]

Threats: A Christmas tree in the town square, Someone smoking in a bar and the sea level rising 1 foot 100+ years from now.

Non-Threats: Ebola, ISIS

Liberalism is a mental disease

[FreedomPoster]

A good friend who is a practicing MD and retired military said the same thing to me.

[FreedomPoster]

Perfect

[Nifster]

Based on the PPE, this nurse is likely to become infected

[caligatrux]

A good friend who is a practicing MD and retired military said the same thing to me.

Well, its true, it will spread in South America almost as rapidly as it has spread in Africa.

Our southern border is wide open, and thousands of South Americans are already streaming across. An ebola outbreak in South America will only increase that flow, as healthy people move away from the outbreak and as sick people come to America for free health care.

After that, it's just dominos. Our health care infrastructure will eventualty be overwhelmed by actual and suspected cases of ebola.

Once there is a significant outbreak in SOuth America, it's only a matter of time.

[justa-hairyape]

Yeah, that Doctors without a Clue chap must have been running a maximum exposure trip test around the Big Apple. Rode up and down Manhattan on subway and cab. Went Bowling. Stopped at a bar. And may have stopped at a restaurant ? How does one forget a restaurant stop ?

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping...

A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread

[bgill]

With what the nurse is wearing, she’s doomed.

That 10,000 new cases per week will need to be raised once our troops start dropping like flies and more idiot healthcare workers go bowling and there isn’t a mandantory REAL quarantine for any and all who come to the US from the hot zone.

[HMS Surprise]

That is the ominous vector, and it seems to be inevitable.

[ChicagahAl]

South America

Central America.