Ebola In The Media

The nurse in Madrid has been cured of Ebola.

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Romero was treated with blood plasma from people who have been infected with Ebola, but Spanish authorities have not released more details of how she was cared for because she requested that no details be released about her treatment program. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/19/spanish-nurse-ebola_n_6011400.html

 

I did skim over that headline somewhere.

 

Someone in Columbus Ohio called 911 saying her sister had ebola. Apparently they thought they would get a quicker 911 response if they said that on the call. They may be charged. DUH.



http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2014/10/16/Columbus-woman-complains-of-Ebola-symptoms.html

 

Good Day New York morning news anchor Rosanna Scotto appears with a jumbo bottle of Purell hand cleaner on her desk, and in photographs with Lysoll disinfecting wipes. she is freaking out.

They constantly show clips of people walking around in moon suits and are calling for flight bans for affected nations.

 

Today was a good day. Nigeria was declared Ebola-free and here in the US, 43 people who were in quarantine were released healthy into the wild. Meanwhile, the right-wingers are trying to make everyone afraid.

 

I think they are making it up as they go!!!!!! -- Follow the bouncing ball!!

 

A doctor brought it to New York. They and NJ have imposed mandatory quarantines for anyone entering from an Ebola stricken area.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/nyregion/ebola-quarantine.html

 

The nurses who cared for Duncan were on 60 Minutes tonight.

One claims that Duncan lied to authorities about burying his daughter who died in childbirth. I'm not clear on whether she had Ebola or not. I'm wondering if she was the pregnant woman he helped to the hospital.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ebola-inside-the-first-united-states-diagnosis-thomas-eric-duncan/

 

A 5 year old boy arrived in New York from Guinea with a 103F temp is being observed in Bellevue Hospital for Ebola symptoms.

I wonder by what airline he "arrived" here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/27/ebola-new-york_n_6053150.html

 

All these people are connecting through Europe, mostly through Frankfurt, London, and Paris. We don't have any direct flights between the US and west Africa. That makes it harder for us to manage the situation.

 

There is no reason to downplay Ebola because it is real and it is dangerous and deadly. BUT media are making too much fuss and panic about it. Someone at the beginning of a thread mentioned (correctly) flu kills more people every year that Ebola did and yet we don't hear about it. Also flu is much more contagious.

 

a nurse who showed no symptoms and tested negative for Ebola upon arriving in the US has pressed a civil lawsuit against the state of NJ because she was quarantined after testing negative.

 

The state is reacting to panic more than to medical concerns.

She's now on her way to her home state of Maine.

 

I heard that story on the news a few days ago and it definitely raised alarm bells.

 

Of what kind? There are multiple sides to this story.

 

It seemed wrong. "Slippery slope" alarm bells. The Ebola scare might get quickly out of hand.

 

We need well thought out national guidelines, not every state doing their own thing.

 

The little boy tested negative.

He has tested "negative".

 

We really need a Surgeon General to coordinate the national response, but Senate Republicans have made it clear they will not vote to approve any Surgeon General that is not a conservative Republican, and Obama is not going to nominate anyone who opposes everything he believes. The new czar appears to be doing nothing, and the CDC guys have no leadership ability. That isn't their thing anyway. Letting every state have their own policy is crazy. A virus doesn't know or care what a state line is.

The media is pointing out all these problems, but they have some problems of their own. Nancy Snyderman showed us why voluntary quarantine won't work. Embarrassed at her behavior, NBC is in no rush to bring her back. Kate Snow is doing a fine job at filling in. It won't bother me if Nancy gets fired. Her arrogance is unfortunately rather typical of doctors, which greatly harms their public image.

Unfortunately, the media is failing to ask the questions that worry me the most. Such as, when the body fluids of an Ebola patient are deposited on a dry surface, how long can the virus survive? Also, if an exposed at-risk person starts to feel symptoms while they are in a public place, do they instantly become contagious? If not, then how long do they have to get themselves out of a public setting? The answers to these questions would tell me a lot about what our quarantine policies should be, and what kind of public precautions are reasonable.

 

Yeah but what would be the fun in that?
It has become blindingly clear to me recently that most people would rather cling to the fear, hysteria and hyperbole rather than get sound, rational advice and REAL threat level information that is actually beneficial.

Let the games continue...




the sky is falling, the sky is falling...