Ebola outbreak - general thread #8

[SteveS]

Weird, when you google "Kaci Hickox" "private plane" a bunch of stories come up, so I am not sure what really happened.

In working back through the reporting, she agreed to go to Maine "but not via mass transportation." I'm led to believe that the NYC-area media, where no one travels by car and where Maine is seen as a million miles away, translated that mentally and wrote "she plans to travel by private plane rather than public plane" without understanding that for most of us, a car trip is more the norm than a plane and Maine isn't too far for a car trip. She's not a NYC girl by any means and wouldn't think like one. JMO.

We had this note in the Wash Times: "A private carrier will take Kaci Hickox back to her home in Maine, the Republican governor’s administration said." "Private carrier" (if that was the admin's wording, and not the article writer's) can be interpreted a number of ways, and interestingly, that same article's headline writer decided it would be by AMBULANCE.

 

[jjenny]

That doesn't make any sense. Since the quarantine is voluntary, I cannot see how they can take any action against her if she doesn't comply.

They could require her to be in involuntary quarantine like they did with Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

 

[atthelake]

CNN cut off but presser continuing...anyone have live feeds?

 

[annahanna]

That doesn't make any sense. Since the quarantine is voluntary, I cannot see how they can take any action against her if she doesn't comply.

If she does not comply with the voluntary quarantine, a mandatory quarantine order will likely be issued - as it was in Texas for Louise Troh.

Dr Spencer's fiancée is under mandatory quarantine in NY with a police officer posted outside her door 24/7. As someone mentioned above Dr Snyderman and her crew were put under mandatory quarantine when they violated the voluntary order. Public health agencies would always prefer to have you agree to and abide by self isolation rather then enforcing a quarantine order.

 

[SteveS]

They could require her to be in involuntary quarantine like they did with Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

In that case, it wouldn't be a "voluntary" quarantine, would it? But, "it's voluntary" is what the state of Maine says.

Perhaps she and her BF have gone to camp in the woods for a few weeks, until this all blows over.

 

[jjenny]

In that case, it wouldn't be a "voluntary" quarantine, would it? But, "it's voluntary" is what the state of Maine says.

Perhaps she and her BF have gone to camp in the woods for a few weeks, until this all blows over.

Right now it's voluntary. But if she doesn't follow it they can make it mandatory.

 

[SStarr33]

Yale Student Held In Ebola Quarantine Speaks Out

http://www.courant.com/health/hc-quarantined-yale-student-speaks-1028-20141027-story.html#page=1

 

[annahanna]

<snipped>
Perhaps she and her BF have gone to camp in the woods for a few weeks, until this all blows over.

...And I thought she didn't like tents?

 

[faw720]

I am puzzled over one particular thing regarding quarantine. Most everyone is throwing a hissy fit over Kaci, yet there any number of health care workers who have taken care of ebola patients here in the US & also those who continue to take care of Dr. Spencer. Apparently none of them has ever been put into quarantine & they just go about their lives in a normal manner. They are monitored to ensure that they remain symptom free. What makes one person more dangerous than another ?????????????????? I do not understand.

 

[gitana1]

She may have won this battle... and it is interesting that she continues to fight. On some level, she has to acknowledge her own reality. She has been in very recent contact with ebola patients and returned home where the government is doing everything it can to prevent an out break of the deadly disease. Although many appear to be lulled into a false sense of security by the US ebola successes, the reality remains that those statistics would look different with a sizeable outbreak that overwhelms resources. Why she would even risk contributing to that scenario on an ethical and moral level is mind boggling not to mention the science. This presence of this kind of insight is not represented anywhere in statements that she's made. What is blatantly apparent is that she is fighting many levels of administrative authority. Perhaps potential employers will long remember that this isn't someone who will support their philosophies unless she personally agrees with them.
While the experience will look fabulous on a resume, the character she's demonstrated may very well overshadow it.

Since we have toilets and do not have intense burial rituals like in Liberia, which involve heavy handling of dead bodies, we have aalmost no chance of an "outbreak". The people in this country who got it had direct contact with the bodily fluids of others who they were treating. So unless you are performing tracheotomies, cleaning diahrrhea, being vomited on by people who are in the advanced stages of the illness, performing blood transfusions or handling the dead bodies of Ebola victims, the chances of getting it simply do not justify the fever pitch of hysteria surrounding it.

I do believe there is something much different than rational fear that is influencing American panic about the virus.

The flu scares me much more. An airborne disease. Many people die f it here in the states each year. Thousands, including kids. But instead of wide spread panic and demands to quarantine, we get pages of threads an discussions everywhere about how no one trusts the vaccines for the flu and aren't taking them.

Makes no sense to me.

 

[Sweet Fox]

They could require her to be in involuntary quarantine like they did with Dr. Nancy Snyderman.

Good point. They could but would they? And as I stated in my prior message, KH only agreed to stay away from "large" public places. She did not agree to stay away from ALL public establishments like small grocery stores, coffee shops, banks, beauty parlors, etc.

 

[Sweet Fox]

That's what happened with Dr. Nancy Snyderman in NJ

 

[jjenny]

I am puzzled over one particular thing regarding quarantine. Most everyone is throwing a hissy fit over Kaci, yet there any number of health care workers who have taken care of ebola patients here in the US & also those who continue to take care of Dr. Spencer. Apparently none of them has ever been put into quarantine & they just go about their lives in a normal manner. They are monitored to ensure that they remain symptom free. What makes one person more dangerous than another ?????????????????? I do not understand.

CDC issued new guidelines for them too.

 

[jjenny]

I am puzzled over one particular thing regarding quarantine. Most everyone is throwing a hissy fit over Kaci, yet there any number of health care workers who have taken care of ebola patients here in the US & also those who continue to take care of Dr. Spencer. Apparently none of them has ever been put into quarantine & they just go about their lives in a normal manner. They are monitored to ensure that they remain symptom free. What makes one person more dangerous than another ?????????????????? I do not understand.

CDC issued new guidelines for them too.

 

[annahanna]

The health care workers in the US are taking care of one patient at a time, under optimal sanitary conditions. They are being monitored closely for symptoms but they are not considered at the highest level of risk. (Even so, the 2 nurses in Texas did become infected.)

Health care workers in the 3 badly impacted countries are dealing with many patients at a time, they are working in overcrowded "hospital" settings (that we in the US would not accept as hospitals), they are working extremely long hours and they are living and traveling through areas where many people,in the community are infected. They are at extremely high risk of infection. To date, none of the Americans who contracted Ebola and were brought to the US for treatment could pinpoint exactly where they got it.

Quarantine seems wise for people at extremely high risk of an infectious disease. Just my opinion.

 

[Elley Mae]

Debra Sharpe, a Birmingham, Ala., biosafety expert who has run a company that trained workers to handle biological agents, said only a small number of companies across the country were equipped to perform such cleanups. But, she added, cleaning locations like the bowling alley, that are unlikely to be contaminated, only spreads anxiety.

&#8220;If you say that you cannot transmit Ebola if you&#8217;re not showing symptoms, then you don&#8217;t need to go clean the bowling alley,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I think you&#8217;re giving the public a mixed signal.&#8221;

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/nyregion/ebola-new-york-hazmat-workers.html

bbm

 

[gitana1]

I am puzzled over one particular thing regarding quarantine. Most everyone is throwing a hissy fit over Kaci, yet there any number of health care workers who have taken care of ebola patients here in the US & also those who continue to take care of Dr. Spencer. Apparently none of them has ever been put into quarantine & they just go about their lives in a normal manner. They are monitored to ensure that they remain symptom free. What makes one person more dangerous than another ?????????????????? I do not understand.

Excellent question. The lack of logic in quarantining one nurse but not other medical professionals here is based, I think, on the same cultural attitudes that have created hysteria about a disease that can only be acquired via bodily fluids. Like hepatitis. Or AIDS.

The number of health care professionals heavily involved in treating Ebola in Africa is large. Compared with how many of them who have contracted the disease there proves, I think, that the protocols our health care workers here use to prevent transmission are not better than those employed by workers there. So that's not an excuse for the hypocrisy regarding quarantine.

 

[jjenny]

Debra Sharpe, a Birmingham, Ala., biosafety expert who has run a company that trained workers to handle biological agents, said only a small number of companies across the country were equipped to perform such cleanups. But, she added, cleaning locations like the bowling alley, that are unlikely to be contaminated, only spreads anxiety.

“If you say that you cannot transmit Ebola if you’re not showing symptoms, then you don’t need to go clean the bowling alley,” she said. “I think you’re giving the public a mixed signal.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/nyregion/ebola-new-york-hazmat-workers.html

bbm

You might not need to clean the bowling alley. But if you are the owner who wants customers to come back, you pretty much have to.

 

[jjenny]

Excellent question. The lack of logic in quarantining one nurse but not other medical professionals here is based, I think, on the same cultural attitudes that have created hysteria about a disease that can only be acquired via bodily fluids. Like hepatitis. Or AIDS.

The number of health care professionals heavily involved in treating Ebola in Africa is large. Compared with how many of them who have contracted the disease there proves, I think, that the protocols our health care workers here use to prevent transmission are not better than those employed by workers there. So that's not an excuse for the hypocrisy regarding quarantine.

CDC guidelines changed quite a bit since two nurses got infected in TX. Now there should be no exposed skin, etc.

 

[gitana1]

The health care workers in the US are taking care of one patient at a time, under optimal sanitary conditions. They are being monitored closely for symptoms but they are not considered at the highest level of risk. (Even so, the 2 nurses in Texas did become infected.)

Health care workers in the 3 badly impacted countries are dealing with many patients at a time, they are working in overcrowded "hospital" settings (that we in the US would not accept as hospitals), they are working extremely long hours and they are living and traveling through areas where many people,in the community are infected. They are at extremely high risk of infection. To date, none of the Americans who contracted Ebola and were brought to the US for treatment could pinpoint exactly where they got it.

Quarantine seems wise for people at extremely high risk of an infectious disease. Just my opinion.

Of 700 Doctors Without Borders health care professionals sent to Africa to treat Ebola patients there, only three (3)- THREE - contracted it. Not died, just contracted it. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/31/world/africa/ebola-virus-outbreak-qa.html

How many health care workers treated the dude in Texas? Not cclose to 700, right? And how many contracted it?

Hmm. I kind of think our system is far poorer than whatever they are doing there.

The CDC does NOT recommend quarantine for health care workers returning from Africa. http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0IG12920141027?irpc=932