USNS Mercy
Posted on 09/17/2014 3:36:21 PM PDT by Heartlander2
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) - A ship with three sick crewmen is scheduled to dock in New Orleans, the Center for Disease Control confirms.
CDC officials said they received word earlier today that a ship which had traveled near where the Ebola outbreak is will dock at the New Orleans port.
A CDC staff member, emergency workers and members of the U.S. Coast Guard will board the boat and transport one ill crewman to a local hospital for evaluation.
No word on which hospital the crewman will be transported to.
The CDC said they are taking extra precaution because of the Ebola risk, but that is thought to be “exceedingly low.”
“The vessel’s itinerary did include Matadi, DRC, in addition to other ports, but there is no evidence to suggest that the crew members traveled to, or had any contact with anyone from the remote inland region of DRC where Ebola cases are occurring.
Given this, the chance that the crew member could have Ebola is thought to be exceedingly low,” the CDC said.
We’re told two other crew members who reported mild illnesses will also be evaluated.
The CDC staff member assisting local health officials was already in New Orleans for training.
“If they plan on using a visitor visa (which they all do) to the U.S. they don’t.”
Yes, because sailors who see prostitutes are a paradigm of honesty and integrity and would admit to such illegal activity promptly when asked. I forgot.
Bunker in place.
Avoid contact.
Rubber gloves and long-sleeved clothes.
Leave your shoes outside. Watch clothes thoroughly.
How long before ebola is here? What will the democrats and the media say to justify it?
USNS Mercy
others not so much
Let me explain a few things to you that you think you learned from movies and television, but are incorrect.
First, most crew members are from India, Ukraine, or the Philippines (Even if the ship flies a Liberian flag, there is NO chance that any crew member is Liberian and it's quite likely the vessel has never visited Liberia). The common factor in these places are that there is a lot of poverty and unemployment. Getting one of the 22 jobs on a commercial cargo vessel is like winning the lottery to them. They're not going to do anything to jeopardize that job and the shipping line won't hesitate to fire them for the smallest infraction since there are so many vying for those jobs. Further, becoming an ABS is a long and expensive process, so they have a lot vested in those jobs.
Two, despite what's shown in movies, you can't just stroll off the vessel and into some dive bar. You need a visa. The shipping lines aren't going to get you a visa for Nigeria because they don't want you getting lost or kidnapped or killed. Even if you went through the trouble of getting your own visa, it wouldn't be of any use to you because the captain holds the passports to all 22 crew members.
Three, international ports of trade have to meet specified security standards or the vessels and their cargo are not permitted into the U.S. or pretty much any civilized nation. People can't just walk in and out of an international sea port or on and off a vessel. Port Security, Customs, and the Shipping lines themselves see to that. There's too much capital invested in the entire operation to risk it on some $8 whore.
Lastly, if somehow, an ABS did go to, say Sierra Leone, on his free time (Lord only knows why someone would want to do that), that entry mark on his visa would almost certainly deny him a job on any international shipping line.
In Liberia, ebola cases are increasing by 3-10% per day. 3% gives an Re of 1.4. 10% gives an Re greater than 3. Doubling number of cases every 8-24 days in Monrovia. Death rate with MSF (Doctors without Frontiers) treatment, as good as it gets, is 50-60%. Liberia had a total of 47 doctors for 4.4 million people. At least three of those doctors are dead, including the top African virologist, from Monrovia, educated at Harvard.
Best case: 85,000 dead, 140,000 infected, 99.7% of cases in Africa. Intermediate case: it spreads to India, Philippines, with isolated cases in Europe, China, US. Worst case: impossible to calculate because WW3 will intervene.
Risks: Mutation, weaponizing, other deliberate spreading of the disease, fear taking out food, water and utility supplies, rioting, dead bodies eaten by animals to give new species vectors. Prediction: Monrovia population drops by half or more by Christmas, 2014, with 300,000+ infected and 200,000+ dead. Rinse and repeat for any city where it breaks containment. Bright spots: contained in Senegal, first round contained in Nigeria. 100% contact tracing required.
“wo, despite what’s shown in movies, you can’t just stroll off the vessel and into some dive bar.”
Who needs to leave the boat? Vendors come out to the boats while line up waiting their turn.
Seen lots of them, frequently, while on off-shore rigs. Thye tie up and sell all sorts of stuff from fresh-caught fish to ice cream. No doubt the “ladies” do the same things.
Spoke to contact and those in Liberia are simply staying in their homes as much as possible. Did pass on the warnings and suggestions. The women here get word on who has succumbed but hasn’t been immediate family, yet.
Put in a pin on a Map.....
One and three, I agree totally. If you look at video...these folks are getting meager rations, and no I-V packs. They get dehydrated, and just have a twenty-percent of survival at that point.
On point two....we’ve progressed passed it being some ‘bad meat’. Sweat contact is now the more likely possible way of passing it. So, you don’t want to be within twenty feet of a guy with it.
We are being stupid about this whole thing....thinking that we can allow some individuals with it...come into the US for any reason. If you can’t ensure the health and safety of the nation....there’s a fundamental problem.
Wrong. Sailors go ashore for a whore. Been like that for thousands of years. And when it comes to a plague, it comes from ships ....also thousands of years been happening.
(Sigh...) unlike thousands of years ago, designated border crossings are tightly controlled.
The days of Blue Beard rolling up on Tripoli are long gone.
Don’t get your current events from a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.
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