"Can't you send Gopher?"
Posted on 10/17/2014 6:54:24 AM PDT by BlatherNaut
Reports tonight are that two individuals possibly infected with the Ebola virus are in Belizean waters. Local TV station Channel 7 monitored in the capital City Of Belmopan tonight, reported having credible reports that a couple from a Texas-based cruise ship presently anchored off Belize City, is on a ship tender, unable to return to the cruise ship, while being refused entry to Belize City to catch an air ambulance awaiting at the International Airport to take them to the their country of origin, the U.S.A. The television station in its broadcast tonight said Belize health authorities contacted tonight have so far refused to deny or confirm the report. The patient exhibiting Ebola symptoms has been confirmed to be a nurse at a Dallas hospital traveling with her husband.
Later tonight in breaking news, Channel 5 Belize reported that it has:
“Confirmed with representatives of the Ministry of Health that they have indeed received a report that there is at least one passenger on board the cruise ship, Carnival Magic, showing symptoms similar to that of the Ebola virus. According to the report made to MOH, the person exhibiting the symptoms did not come ashore today. The ship is reportedly carrying 3652 passengers and a total population of 4633 persons.
“The Carnival Magic departed from Galveston Texas on Sunday, October 12 arrived in Mahogany Bay, Honduras on Wednesday October 15 and arrived in Belize this morning, Thursday October 16.
“The ship was scheduled to leave Belize en route to Cozumel this evening at 5pm. However, it is still anchored in Belizean waters near State Bank Caye.”
“We have also have confirmed that the Belize Coast Guard has been deployed to prevent anyone from leaving the ship; including the Belizean pilot on board.”
In a press conference held last weak, Belize’s Ministry of Health stated that in the event of an outbreak of Ebola in Belize, no patient would be allowed into the commercial capital Belize City, where most of the Belize government cabinet officials reside. The MOH stated that the government hospital, the Karl Heuesner Memorial Hospital has but one Intensive Care Unit and they would not allow this to be overrun with Ebola patients. Belize is a a very poor country on the Yucatan Peninsula that depends to a large extent on tourism and grants from Venezuela for its foreign exchange income. Belize City is currently the main port of call for cruise ships.
Update: Channel 7 news anchor Indira Craig has posted on her Facebook page that Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow in a callous move in view of very close Belize-U.S. relations, has denied entry into Belize for the stricken U.S. nationals to be air lifted to the U.S.A. for treatment:
“Talks have concluded with the PM and The US State Department officials. Belize WILL NOT BE GRANTING ACCESS to the suspected passengers to have entry onto our shores. An official release will be sent out shortly by government followed by a press conference to be held tomorrow.Passports have been returned so this scare has ended.”
In a late night official press release issued by the Belize Press Office, the Belize government offered its version of the Belize Ebola Incident.It stresses that while the patient did not disembark in Belize, it does not address the question that thousands of cruise ship passengers that may have had contact with the patient(s) did in fact disembark and tour Belize City today:
Belmopan. October 16, 2014. The Government of Belize was contacted today by officers of the U.S. Government and made aware of a cruise ship passenger considered of very low risk for Ebola. The passenger had voluntarily entered quarantine on board the ship and remains free of any fever or other symptoms of illness. The Ebola virus may only be spread by patients who are experiencing fever and symptoms of illness and so the US Government had emphasized the very low risk category in this case. Nonetheless, out of an abundance of caution, the Government of Belize decided not to facilitate a U.S. request for assistance in evacuating the passenger through the Phillip Goldson International Airport.
The GOB reassures the public that the passenger never set foot in Belize and while we remain in close contact with US officials we have maintained the position that when even the smallest doubt remains, we will ensure the health and safety of the Belizean people. The Prime Minister has called a press conference tomorrow morning to further address any concerns that may arise from this event.
Update From Carnival Cruise Lines: John Head, Carnival Senior Cruise Director wrote on his FaceBook Page:
“Late afternoon on Wednesday, Oct. 15., we were made aware by the U.S. CDC of a guest sailing this week on board Carnival Magic who is a lab supervisor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. At no point in time has the individual exhibited any symptoms or signs of infection and it has been 19 days since she was in the lab with the testing samples. She is deemed by CDC to be very low risk. At this time, the guest remains in isolation on board the ship and is not deemed to be a risk to any guests or crew. It is important to reiterate that the individual has no symptoms and has been isolated in an extreme abundance of caution. We are in close contact with the CDC and at this time it has been determined that the appropriate course of action is to simply keep the guest in isolation on board.”
But the leftists are telling me this is an “overblown” response to a nothing issue.
Bttt
Well this is the “no class” cruise line after all.
There goes to cruise ship business. Our refusal to quarantine infected countries is going to take down industry after industry.
Meanwhile our government is worried about hurting african economies instead of protecting our own.
The best thing you can do for the african countries is quarantine them and quarantine communities within them until the threat is eliminated.
Like tornados and trailer parks. Cruise ships cause Ebola.
I don’t blame Belize. If only we had this level of resolve.
Micheal Crichton couldn’t have scripted this any better. Time for Dr. Frieden to resign.
The similarities between Norovirus and Ebola are interesting. Same method of transmission, R naught rate and virulence. Norovirus is pretty common. I’d hate to imagine if Ebola became as common.
This has the earmarks that a Govt. agency was checking on the whereabouts of all the nurses involved with an ebola patient, and found that nurse had left the country.-Tom
I've been on eight cruises of this size and don't recall any one dying!! Where did you get this little tid bit of information!!
Several years ago on the maiden voyage of Allure of the Seas (a floating city), Royal Caribbean, my 92 year old father with congestive heart disease had a major heart issue after dinner, and while we were at the elevator discussing taking him to the Medical area, a doc jumped out of the crowd who was a passenger, took his pulse, and said, “Get him to medical immediately!”
Two minutes later we were in the med unit and he had first class treatment from TWO ship docs who knew exactly what to do (serious arrythmia, gave IV with electrolytes, low potassium if I remember correctly) and in 24 hours he was his old self. We were so grateful for the level of help we got. RC is the best. And we’ve been on all the good ones. Carnival? Never.
He passed in his sleep a year later......
What is interesting is the fact that thus far those closest to patient zero have not showed symptoms, or at least there have been no reports yet. Patient zero was exposed to full blown Ebola victim that died very shortly thereafter. The nurses that have come down with Ebola were exposed when patient zero was very ill. Not to minimize the danger, but this strain of Ebola (and others may be different) appears to be very contagious when the patient is very sick, and thus ultra precautions are warranted when exhibiting such symptoms.
I think we will learn a lot from this whole episode, and hopefully enable rational approaches to dealing with it (cutting travel when so much is unknown sure would have been prudent). The biggest problem is the potential for mutations that increase the chance of contracting it from victims at earlier stages of the disease. My own doctor mentioned during an office visit last week that another doctor in the practice had recently returned from volunteer work treating Ebola patients. Worked in the appropriate protective gear, but saw workers sharing food from common containers (rice...) after removing their gear, just simply unsafe cultural practices. He was very careful with food preparation....
Hope the ship has a quarantine flag on board.
Every little breeze
Brings more germs to Belize
As a young nurse will sneeze
Out there on the high seas....
My Friends’ Wifes’ parents are currently on board that ship.
Obviously they do not publish an obituary in the ships news. Its kept quiet out of respect for the passengers family and also so as not to unnecessarily alarm the passengers who might wonder what the cause of death was. Several different sources have corroborated this. Each cruise ship routinely stores coffins for human remains among its supplies.
So... is she symptomatic or not?
It says that on Wednesday she had no symptoms. But today is Friday - and she is in the ship tender, so obviously she must have symptoms now.
All she did was handle a vial of his blood and she caught Ebola??? What about the family in the apartment with him who were hugging, feeding him, using the same bathroom??? How could they still all be well?!
You really think someone could die on a cruise and the news would not leak out...come on man! People definitely die on cruises...but its not any where near a normal occurrence!!
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