Posted on 10/22/2014 7:31:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
Everyone has it wrong. Americans are frightened to death of the medical implications of Ebola- as well they should be. I’ve never in my lifetime seen a disease that has infected and killed so many healthcare professionals.
Unfortunately I might have also been the first American to experience damage from Ebola to my “personal economy” 2 weeks ago. As a branding expert, I speak at business conventions and conferences all over the world. I had already been booked for weeks as the keynote speaker for an event in Dallas in early November. Then came the announcement that Thomas Duncan was being treated for Ebola in a Dallas hospital.
Within days of this announcement, I got the phone call that the event I was speaking at was cancelled, because so many attendees refused to travel to Dallas. Many who cancelled called it “the epicenter of Ebola in the United States.” They were all frightened that Ebola could spread in Dallas like wildfire by November.
This event was cancelled before Thomas Duncan died. This happened before either of the two nurses got sick with Ebola. This happened before the second nurse got on an airplane to Dallas with a fever and potentially exposed 132 other souls (and their family, friends, office workers) to Ebola.
Already 2 weeks ago- just with the knowledge that one person had contracted Ebola- Dallas was stigmatized. Whether Dallas’ political or business leaders understood it or not back then, the Dallas economy was about to suffer a terrible blow. So is any other city or industry that comes into contact with "the brand" Ebola. Airlines could be ruined. Cruise lines could be ruined. The economies of entire cities could be crippled.
My fear today – based on personal experience- is not of the medical damage of an Ebola pandemic (or even the threat of one), but of the potential catastrophic damage to the U.S. economy. The implications are enormous. The entire U.S. economy could suffer what Dallas is already experiencing- a devastating decline in travel and commerce.
Consider the implications. My hometown is Las Vegas, Nevada- the tourism and convention capital of America. One single case of Ebola in Las Vegas and tourism could suffer a dramatic decline or shutdown. The lobbies of mega resort casinos will instantly look like the days after 9-11, when you could roll a bowling ball through the main lobby of famous hotels like Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mirage and Venetian and hit no one. They were ghost towns in the aftermath of the World Trade Center terrorist attack and airline shutdown. They remained ghost towns for months after 9-11. Billions of dollars were lost.
Ebola could make the economic damage of 9-11 look like "child’s play" in Vegas…in Orlando…in Manhattan…in Hollywood…in any or perhaps every tourist center of America. 9-11 was a one-day event. Ebola doesn’t end in a day. Once a deadly Ebola pandemic starts, it plays out for weeks, or months, or even years. The fear of flying, traveling, or attending events in public places with crowds might last for years.
The economic threat from Ebola extends from tourist locales to airlines, cruise lines, car rentals, restaurants, supermarkets, movie theatres, Broadway plays, business conferences, sporting events…to literally any theatre, stadium or venue holding thousands of people. Entire sports seasons could be cancelled. All commerce in this country could grind to a halt.
Yes, the health implications of catching or dying from Ebola is certainly something to fear. But the economic implications are far worse. Because Ebola doesn’t have to kill thousands, or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, to destroy the U.S. economy. Only a handful of cases could incite enough fear and panic to bring all commerce to a halt. Ask the city of Dallas. Ask Frontier Airlines. Ask Carnival Cruises. Ask travel operators who book African safaris- their businesses have been crippled. Bookings are off by as much as much as 70% in the past month.
The tragic part about this is it never had to happen. The blame falls squarely on one man- President Barack Obama. No one could have guaranteed Ebola would not come to our shores. But the odds of a pandemic, panic and economic collapse could have been reduced to almost nil with five simple measures:
1.Secure and seal the border with Mexico.
2. Ban all flights from the Ebola Zone. This should have been done 3 months ago and Thomas Duncan could never have come to America. Those two nurses would not be infected.
3. Quarantine every Ebola Zone citizen traveling into the United States, no matter where their flight comes from.
4. Recall thousands of U.S. troops sent into harm’s way in the Ebola Zone to fight an invisible deadly virus, thereby risking a devastating pandemic among our military personnel (and the spread of Ebola back to their families and communities in America).
5. Who is in charge? Both the President and CDC obviously have no idea what they’re doing. Confusion and paralysis reigns. We need an “Ebola Czar” who is a well-respected, world-class medical expert, not a political hack whose resume is a tribute to handing out government contracts to Democratic donors. This is a life or death situation. This is no time to play politics.
Or is this just another case of "Let no crisis go to waste"? The right choice to calm America would be the brilliant retired neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson.
Any Ebola pandemic and the economic collapse that results falls squarely upon the shoulders of the man whose poor decisions made his all possible- President Barack Obama.
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...
Short the airlines bump.
How so?
It costs Dallas Presbyterian $500000 00 for a non American who’ll never pay( he’s dead ) and his family is suing on top of that
And it’s free. From the hover. Who is so generous toward foreigners that they get free care
We can keep doing this over and over
It’s free
It doesn’t need to be. The silly fear-mongering will cost us billions.
Stop listening to pundits and politicians who don’t know Jack, and even if they did they’ll lie about it for their own ends.
In Africa ebola is called “the nurse killer.”
My daughter was killed by a drunk driver. He was arrested at the scene and his blood alcohol level was .213 which is almost 3 times the legal limit. She was one of about 9000 people dead by DUI drivers that year. During her lifetime approximately 210,000 DUI deaths occurred. SO World WAR DUI is a horrible statistics which must be addressed..
5. “Who is in charge? Both the President and CDC obviously have no idea what they’re doing.”
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Either that or they know EXACTLY what they’re doing.
What happens when all the nurses decide it’s better to try to survive without a job than go to a job that kills them?
It appears the American public has done what the CDC refuses to do. They imposed their own travel ban and quarantine.
Hopefully that won't happen because we need good nurses. But it is really the job of the medical establishment to see that those on the front line are kept safe.
Because of Obama, funds that were in place to work on ebola were diverted to his pet projects like Solyndra leaving those on the frontline, when the time came for the infection to manifest itself, without the proper knowledge to protect themselves.
Obama owns this mess and anyone who refuses to see it is a fool.
Collapse by virus.
It happened in Liberia. All but 50 of their doctors quit which is why foreign doctors are having to put their lives at risk.
All that research would have benefitted the medical establishment in Liberia.
Seems like many roads lead to the willful incompetence of Barack Hussein Obama.
It will take one food handler at a meat packing plant with Ebola to mess things up big time. Good luck finding a dentist once Ebola hits your town.
I wonder how so many people from these poor African countries can afford to fly here. I do good to be able to pay for a ticket once in awhile to fly across a few States to visit family.
BINGO! It's being rubbed in our faces!
Jesus Christ: You can’t impeach Him and He ain’t going to resign.
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