Ex-DHS Head Michael Chertoff: The case for suspending U.S. visas in Ebola-affected countries

Washington Post ^ | 10/27/2014 | Michael Chertoff

[SeekAndFind]

As alarm mounts over the spread of Ebola, many are concerned that screening travelers who arrive in the United States from West Africa is not sufficiently protective because it will not identify those who carry the virus but are not yet symptomatic. Yet over the past two weeks, the Obama administration and supportive experts saturated the media with the argument that any comprehensive travel restrictions aimed at Ebola-infested regions would be pointless and even counterproductive.

No doubt the experts who reject travel bans understand disease and epidemiology. But their arguments demonstrate less understanding of how we manage risk in the context of border and travel security. In fact, restriction of U.S. travel visas for residents of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — the three countries in which Ebola is out of control — could reduce the risk of significant disease import into the United States without hampering efforts to assist those nations in combating the illness.

During my time as U.S. homeland security secretary, we planned extensively for the possibility of a global pandemic — specifically, mutated avian influenza. If that virus had achieved efficient human-to-human transmission, it would have rapidly globalized, and closing borders would have had little lasting impact. Simply put, it is difficult to shut out the entire world.

But Ebola is not a highly efficient contagion. For months, the vast majority of cases have been concentrated in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. There, the disease is still uncontrolled due to inadequate medical infrastructure and family-oriented medical and burial customs. As demonstrated by the tragic case of Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola in Dallas, there is a real risk that people who come into contact with a contagious individual in these countries could bring the disease to the United States.

[SeekAndFind]

Michael Chertoff was secretary of homeland security from 2005 to 2009 and is co-founder and executive chairman of the Chertoff Group, a security and risk-management firm.

[null and void]

Bring out your dead! The Dark Man cometh! Bring out your dead! The Dark Man cometh! Bring out your......

(hat tip to: fivecatsandadog!)

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...

[stephenjohnbanker]

Michael Chertoff added that illegal immigrants from Mexico are A OK, though.

[Pollster1]

How much does it cost per Ebola patient to treat these people? How many more cases can we expect in November? December? In January? February? We know the answers to all of those questions. Even if our doctors and nurses are perfect and none of these imported cases spread Ebola while in our hospitals, this will get very expensive. How many cases will it take before the hard-left fringe gives up their open borders fantasy and admits that borders have a purpose?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: How much does it cost per Ebola patient to treat these people?

Ebola Victim Thomas Eric Duncan's 9-Day Treatment Cost Hospital Estimated $500K and He Had No Insurance

Of course, that does not include all the other costs --- the amount of money spent to track and trace all ebola contacts, decontaminating and disinfecting places (airplanes included), the Cruise Ship that STOPPED cruising and is now being disinfected, because an Ebola nurse was there, etc.

[SeekAndFind]

EDIT TO ADD, and then you have to factor in the following ADDITIONAL cost plus displacement:

New York Bellevue Hospital ICU patients head to NYU Langone to free up staff for Ebola cases: sources

[Pollster1]

Part of the good news is that even ignoring nonsense reports of someone who traveled to “Africa” (meaning South Africa or Egypt) and returned with a fever, there will be plenty of valid Ebola stories in the next week to keep people aware of how dangerously reckless Obama is with our safety and security. This election will be ugly for Democrats (thank God!). How ugly depends on our turnout and how much of their vote fraud we can suppress.

[Ken H]

Skeletor is still around? Must’ve risen from his crypt.

[Smokin' Joe]

Ping...

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