… it sounds as if Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital wasn’t prepared for any severely infectious disease, let alone Ebola.
As a health-care outsider, but one who cares about preps, I wouldn’t necessarily expect a hospital in the midlands to be ready specifically for Ebola. But with all the talk these many years of potential biowar attacks and pandemics, I’d certainly expect more and better preps at any hospital than the slapdash, make-it-up-as-you-go, and dangerously half*ssed measures the anonymous nurses describe.
Of course, they are anonymous, and on the face of it, it’s hard to know whether their statement represents a grudge-holding exaggeration or genuine outrage and terror from people whose lives have been put at risk. And people who watched others’ lives be endangered.
But now that a second Dallas nurse has been diagnosed, the bland assurances of hospital management and the accusation from federal officials that the first nurse’s infection must have been all her own fault ring even more false.
We also know that this second nurse, while self-monitoring for the disease, flew twice on commercial airlines — including one flight the day before she reported to the hospital with a fever. We can hope that the latest assurances — that she was asymptomatic at the time, that the disease can’t be spread by someone showing no symptoms, and that the planes have now been cleaned according to (I roll eyes as I say this) CDC guidelines — are all more reliable than past assurances have been.
Everything is still officially fine, of course. All that’s needed are a few billion more dollars of tax funding and the CDC, and National Institutes of Health will — really, truly this time — have Ebola well in hand. And really, truly, they won’t blow any of those billions focusing on obesity, guns, or any other politically driven (non) “epidemic.”
I still think it’s way too early to panic — and of course panic won’t be productive even if/when it is time. I would never expect Ebola to get as out-of-control here as it has in West Africa, even with a fair degree of stupid involved. Not even remotely.
But if what we’ve seen represents the general level of preparedness and precaution that health-crats and hospitals practice, then it may indeed be time to worry, and to examine our own preps with infectious disease in mind.
More later on that.
Another potential vector I’d include in my worries involves those thousands of soldiers (slowly) being sent into the “hot zone.” We’re assured that they’ll never, ever, ever have any contact with Ebola sufferers. But they’re also mostly young men and women. Many are likely inclined to be risk takers. And do you believe for one moment that those who are sending them have made any better preps than the officials at the CDC or that Dallas hospital?
These people will return to the U.S. and disburse — possibly to a military base or a neighborhood near you.
No, I am not saying it’s time to duct tape ourselves inside those airless “safe” rooms the fedgov was so (potentially fatally) advocating a few years back.
Just stating the obvious: that the people who are supposed to be in charge of infectious-disease containment appear to be as clueless as the people in charge of … well, everything else that’s run or regulated by government. And — also obvious — that concern for the welfare of individuals or so-far Ebola-free communities is simply not on the radar of “officials.” So it had better be on our own radar.
I totally agree. I’ve never commented, but have read a lot of your posts. Everyone should read this. I love Hardyville also. Thanks, keep it up.
Hard to separate truth from “hyperbole” here – not to mention the politics involved.
I’m sure the ER was busy, and am equally sure the hospital was not prepared to take on an isolation case, unless there is a specific isolation ward available (which is rather expensive to maintain in most hospitals because they are not always full). Isolation rooms have to be “set up”, and personnel assigned (taken from other assignments, or called in specifically for that case), which takes time. In the interval, the patient waits – somewhere. (Usually near other patients because there is no other place to put him until the isolation area/team is ready.)
The internal politics occurred where the union was concerned. This was a non-union hospital. Hard to know, but I’d guess the nurses who contacted the union were PRO-union – and they are the ones talking to the media. Certainly the union is taking advantage of it. (Unionization of nurses is one hell of a hot potato, and can start wars more deadly than the Middle East. I‘ve been in the middle of two of them at two different hospitals, and “never the twain shall meet.”)
ERs do not have time to play politics, or even think of global “news” when a patient enters the facility. Apparently there was no reason to believe, on the patient’s first visit, that he had Ebola. I’m not sure what they did think he had, but it must have been some type of infection/inflammation because they gave him an Rx for antibiotics.
I would never attempt to excuse this hospital – they have obviously botched it. But there is a lot of second-guessing and hindsight in the media, and it reports the side it agrees with.
“Just stating the obvious: that the people who are supposed to be in charge of infectious-disease containment appear to be as clueless as the people in charge of … well, everything else that’s run or regulated by government. And — also obvious — that concern for the welfare of individuals or so-far Ebola-free communities is simply not on the radar of “officials.” So it had better be on our own radar.”
AMEN…
Every hospital and medical facility in the country has everything they need to prevent the spread of this and any other infectious disease… if they have any employees with a working brain and a medical related education. Infection control protocols are a basic part of the education of any person employed in such places, and the cloud of laws, rules and regulations about it are pretty overwhelming most of the time.
Therefore, it would take willful and deliberate acts to create the sort of mess being described, and a lot of people who have turned off their brains, evidently.
Ebola is no worse than many other serious infectious diseases, and the precautions/ isolation techniques are well known, taught, practiced and expected of every health care worker. It is not as easily spread as many others, yet the hysteria over that is serious. Compliance and integrity among those workers is, of course, beyond anyone’s ability to guarantee.
As with cops, it is the responsibility of nurses, doctors, etc. to police their own ranks and toss out the incompetent and the dishonest. They don’t do a very good job of it, any more than cops… and increasingly for much the same reasons. Most of what I’ve read as coming from these anonymous nurses is filtered through the rabid, collectivist and fascist nurse’s “union,” and therefore no more valid than cop’s unions speaking for all cops. They have an ax to grind, and will not let any “crisis go to waste.”
If the conditions in that Dallas hospital are as reported, then every single nurse, doctor and so forth should have been on the street looking for another job… long ago. Or working to make their hospital a better place, perhaps.
The hype and hysteria over this ebola thing is the creature of those who want us to live continually in fear and panic… and to stop thinking. Don’t fall for it.
Overview of what makes Ebola an extraordinarily dangerous virus:
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-makes-ebola-virus-so-deadly-2014-10
Thanks to the Commentariat’s resident retired nurses for reality checking.
Addendum: So many hospitals have cut their full-time staff and are using labor pool and part-timers in order to save money that it’s not surprising when an emergency arises that can’t be handled correctly. They have usually been too quickly trained to the hospital’s policies and procedures, and rarely come in contact with the “unusual” cases. This is not to excuse the hospital, but to explain why panic and/or inadequacy may set in when a case like Ebola arises.
(This may SEEM to disagree with MamaLiberty, but I don’t think so. We are talking from two different viewpoints.)
That’s a good article, Claire. (Thanks for finding some objectivity in the media.)
MamaLiberty, you wrote:
“Every hospital and medical facility in the country has everything they need to prevent the spread of this and any other infectious disease [emphasis mine] … if they have any employees with a working brain and a medical related education. Infection control protocols are a basic part of the education of any person employed in such places … Therefore, it would take willful and deliberate acts to create the sort of mess being described, and a lot of people who have turned off their brains, evidently.”
I must beg to differ. Human error, sloppiness, misunderstandings, slip-ups with gear, etc. are all inevitable. You can’t just say if people wouldn’t do stupid things, everything would be okay. Because people are going to make mistakes. People are going to misunderstand, forget, take shortcuts, whatever. You need failsafes in place for when people do do stupid things or a piece of gear slips or fails.
A hospital that doesn’t have failsafes — in place, well-understood, and well practiced — doesn’t have everything it needs to control infectious disease. And whether the nurses’ statement is fully accurate or not, it’s very clear that Dallas’ Ebola hospital didn’t have what it needed. And it’s a sure bet most others don’t, either.
Reportedly, Doctors Without Borders has a buddy system that everybody knows and everybody practices and their doctors have treated Ebola nearly 40 years without infecting themselves. But that system involves both “spacesuit” protection and at least one other person observing/helping with the donning and removal of protective gear.
I agree that nobody should fall for “hype and hysteria.” However, this disease is clearly very, very risky for medical personnel and is revealing ghastly flaws in the ability to contain infectious disease. We’d be wrong to dismiss those problems.
Josh from Oklahoma — Thanks for “breaking comment silence” in such an encouraging way. 🙂
“I would never expect Ebola to get as out-of-control here as it has in West Africa, even with a fair degree of stupid involved. Not even remotely.”
Why not?
Expecting the level of care (potentially) available in the US to avert this thing spreading rapidly is I believe whistling past the graveyard.
If it gains momentum, real or perceived, hospitals and testing labs will be overwhelmed.
When the labs cannot keep up, some real cases will go undiagnosed and remain at large. Some merely suspected of having it will be hospitalized pending results, thus clogging the system.
If real cases begin showing up, hospital staff will revert to self preservation and stay home.
Anything that has an exponential, if not geometric, growth rate ought to be respected more than it is.
And that is not fear mongering.
“Why not?”
Because we have many things that those poverty-entrenched, war-ridden countries in West Africa don’t have. We have:
Many more and probably better educated doctors.
Many other highly educated medical personnel.
Better medical infrastructure.
More money to throw at the problem.
A better educated, less superstitious population.
No established customs of families washing and embracing corpses
Better communications.
A better understanding of how diseases spread and why quarantine may be needed.
Better access to protective gear
An absolute obsession with good hygiene.
And probably a lot more.
I read that in the aftermath of Liberia’s endless and horrific civil war, there were only 51 physicians left in the whole country. The WaPost reported that Liberia has just 1 doctor per 100,000 people, vs 232 doctors per 100,000 in Kentucky, a state whose population is close to Liberia’s. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/09/11/ebola-is-devouring-everything-in-its-path-could-it-lead-to-liberias-collapse/ — there’s a lot of fear-mongering in that article, but those stats are consistent with others I’ve seen.)
The U.S. is not West Africa, even if it has fallen from its glory days, and for all the terrible mistakes we’ve seen so far, we do learn from mistakes and I don’t see any reason we’re likely to turn into a third-world country over this.
CBS’s medical correspondent has reported that Amber Vinson, the nurse who flew from Cleveland to Dallas when she was self-monitoring for Ebola and already knew she had a slight fever, asked the CDC in advance if it was okay to board the flight. If this report is accurate, they told her it was. Even though the CDC director says CDC guidelines should have kept her off commercial transport.
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2014/10/15/ebola-patient-traveled-day-before-diagnosis/
Claire,
Sounds like there should be an informative, in depth article or booklet on how BHM readers could protect themselves and their home from infectious diseases. Whether Ebola or others, a home basic how-to-do-it manual on an emergency in-place shelter containing an isolation section could be the difference between us and Africa, life or death. Live Isolated or Die.
While it might be reassuring to quote Hanlon’s Razor – Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity – which seems to be Clair’s take on the situation, what if it is purposeful?
I’m sorry to sound like a conspiracy nut but it sure would explain a whole lot of other government “preparation” that has been going on for some time, like FEMA, DHS weapon and ammo purchases, and alternate lack of quarantine hospitals. There are only 4 equipped to handle this kind of virus outbreak.
I would turn Hanlon’s on its ear and say: Never attribute to stupidity that which is clearly and adequately explained by malice. Why at the first sign of spread from Africa didn’t our government ban incoming flights? Why were 4,000 U.S. troops sent into the hot zone – to get infected and bring it back? Why has the government purposely allowed thousands, no millions, to cross our southern border without screening for disease? There is obviously a pattern here.
“Because we have many things that those poverty-entrenched, war-ridden countries in West Africa don’t have. We have:……………..”
All the things listed are accurate.
But how are the medical capabilities of this First World nation working out so far with only a handful of known infections?
Rhetorical question, of course.
“But how are the medical capabilities of this First World nation working out so far with only a handful of known infections?”
Not real well. Once politics are forced out of the way, however, we do learn from our errors.
All of you make som good and interesting points. All I know from my training in health & safety plus being trained in the forces in NBCD is that this will not end well.
“The hype and hysteria over this ebola thing is the creature of those who want us to live continually in fear and panic… and to stop thinking.”
So far, that hits home with me. On at least one preparedness forum that I visit regularly, attention to ebola has just about risen to the crash panic anxiety level. If that level of anxiety/hysteria reaches the general public, We the People are going to start demanding that the gov protect them and , like after 9/11, that’ll generate the opportunity for gov to become more overpowering and intrusive.
And, as always, the media will be a major culprit in generating that hysteria with it’s philosophy of “if it bleeds, it leads”. Whether or not it’s an intentional plot, the outcome will send the country a bit further down a very slippery slope.
Doctors Without Borders raised the contamination issue 2 days ago:
http://m.jems.com/article/news/16-members-doctors-without-borders-infec
16 have contracted and 9 have died.
If this group who has much experience has an issue, then perhaps it is time to revisit our Hospital/Medical Systems ability to deal with this issue.
What will cause issues is a false sense of “wipe it with bleach and it’ll be fine” mentality.
Thank you for the correction on Doctors without Borders, M. I’m puzzled by the article, though, because although that figure appears in the headline and photo caption (? or first line of the article; hard to tell what that one separate line is), it appears nowhere else with the article. There’s no hint of who said it or any other detail.
If the figure is correct, I’d like to know whether those infections and deaths happened before the current “spacesuit and buddy” system or even with it.
The article certainly makes a good point that “the authorities” in Africa and the UN have been among the missing when it comes to containing the disease.
The last paragraph says it all. Only fools and slackers depend on government of any kind to take care of them. Self-reliance is the only way to get by well, and maybe take advantage of services that government might offer – although they’ve pretty much stopped doing that kind of thing. However, exposing yourself to government in order to get services means making exposing yourself to government, period. And given what we know about government incompetence and malfeasance, exposing yourself is a dangerous fool’s errand.
Speaking from behind the scenes, let me tell you how it really is. Since Obamacare was voted in, hospitals have been “preparing” for the last 4 years. Not to really promote patient care, but to satisfy and “comply” with the electronic date health records. Because if we don’t comply, we just don’t get paid by insurance companies, Medicaid, medicare, and obamacare. Most the the patients can not pay their copays, deductibles and the hospital writes off 50% every year of bad debt. What does these mean for Ebola??? Well, judging by where I work, we cant even handle a really busy night with just the “normal” patient load of sore throats, broken little fingers, and chest pains in our ER. Why?? Because of the paperwork that has to be done BEFORE the patient gets registered, after they have sat in the ER waiting room for a few hours. Well, anyway, we are TIMED on our response to all of these. The scene is like that of a McDonalds during the lunch rush. Doctores, nurses, lab techs, all of us are rushed, screamed at, written up, stressed out, because of the Obamacare protocols to be followed because of paperwork and compliance to data health records. Because of the chaos, and the other illnesses that Ebola mimics, we would not know an Ebola patient from a flu patient at this point until quite awhile later. And protective gear??? I am laughing as I write this. Yes there are universal precautions to be followed, but no one has time. And another problem – the shortage of docs and nurses, and now lab techs who are leaving the field because of what I have just described. I wont go on and on. The blame needs to be on our Govt. take over of the healthcare system. It has become a disaster before Ebola hit. People are sooooooo clueless.
Here is another article. It appears that the “Slow Dance” of K.I.S.S. is what has kept so many alive. At the risk of sounding insensitive, “our” Healthcare Community has become so used to Regulation keeping us “safe” that the basic principles of sanitary practices are not foremost. It most likely is more difficult to keep our numerous advanced medical gear sterilized vs what Doctors Without Boarders has to work with. Also the “medical refuse” piled high to the ceiling for 1 Patient (Duncan) appears to increase the likelihood of error especially since it must be triple packaged before being transported to a place that incinerates it which the transports the ashes somewhere else (with the appropriate permits of course).
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81691862/
Very good article, M. Thank you. Informative, and a good explanation of how DWB (MSF) staffers caught Ebola even with the precautions in place.
Lab tech — Thanks for speaking up. I feel for anybody in the medical profession these days — and that was true even before Ebola landed in the U.S.
I have no doubt about the truth of what those anonymous nurses said (and I can fully appreciate the desire to protect their livelihoods by running it through the union, even though they are not members). So far the government and hospital administration has lied to us at every turn; I’m not going to start believing them now.
First we were told that the hospital staff had all been trained in dealing with Ebola patients (and there was public criticism of the fact that Duncan was initially sent home, allegedly in violation of that training). I have a friend who is an emergency room physician in the largest hospital in the largest city in South Carolina (and, despite not being a very large city in absolute terms, we even have an international airport with daily flights from Europe). He tells me that they have had absolutely no “training” in this; the CDC merely sent out a one-page sheet with some general procedures. If that’s true here I see no reason to think that Dallas is any different; certainly it is not a major destination point for African flights. So much for all that “training”.
Then we were told that Ebola isn’t “airborne”. However, it turns out that, to a virologist, that term has a specific technical meaning which is not what the average person would think it is. Ebola is transmissible by sneezing, which to most people certainly counts as “airborne”. It the CDC’s statement was technically true it was nonetheless highly misleading, and I believe deliberately so.
When the first Dallas nurse was confirmed to have contracted the disease, the head of the CDC blamed it on “not following protocols.” Yet in the same news conference he admitted that they did not know how she had contracted it. It is thus entirely possible the those vaunted “protocols” themselves are at fault; she may have followed them to the letter. We don’t know, and neither does he (or if he does he’s not telling). This was a transparent exercise in blame-shifting, and a clearly dishonest one.
And of course the head of the CDC has been spouting arrant nonsense for several days about how banning flights from the affected eastern African nations wouldn’t be useful, would hamper our ability to help fight the disease, etc. All obviously facile lies and half-truths. I don’t know whether he really believes any of that clap-trap or if he’s just following the orders of his political masters, but it really doesn’t matter: he’s either incompetent for the job or wholly lacking in ethics (an ethical man ordered to make such stupid remarks would resign out of principle).
I agree with Old Printer (in fact, I made similar comments in a different thread last week). There is plenty of stupidity in all this, but not enough to explain everything. There is malice here, too.
I’ve got a family member (RN) who’s not concerned whatsoever. He’s going with the CDC line on it from 6 months ago, and won’t deviate from it. But he does allow that there’s potential for them to lose control on this if they (gov’t, various private actors) continue to f**k up.
OTOH, I’ve got a friend who works in the same place the family member does who had a patient this AM who she realized was on “droplet protocol” after treating (with no protective gear). She was never notified prior to contact. Now the patient is “missing,” implication being possible quarantine.
Of all of the survival/prepper “pet” doomsday scenarios, this is as probable a disaster scenario as I’ve seen. Wish I could convince more loved ones of the seriousness.
I view this as a very big deal. When they are calling out the military in Africa and shooting people who are trying to leave quarantine zones, I have to take it seriously. Certainly malice and Obama’s ever present race card are factors http://www.aim.org/aim-column/seeing-ebola-through-obamas-eyes/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email101614&utm_medium=email
But the sheer incompetence and inefficiency of our health care system are enough evidence on which to base dire predictions. Contagious people get on airplanes, or are sent home from the E.R. The Dallas people had considerable difficulty finding a company willing to clean the infected apartment, which was done at great cost. I saw a video (I can’t find it now) where a Canadian researcher stated that the virus has the potential to mutate to become an airborne risk.
We can’t even handle MRSA properly. Sometimes the warning posters aren’t where they’re supposed to be, or sometimes they are rotated 90 degrees horizontally so that the person walking up is looking along the edge. Hospital workers get careless because of the considerable extra work to provide care to a patient “in isolation.” Family members of patients will come in with the patient, put protective gowns on to sit in the room, and then read their newspapers, sometimes without gloves.
I was watching TV with a friend with Hazmat experience; the program showed health care workers being trained to go to Africa. He observed that they didn’t know how to remove the outer of two gloves (in hospitals, someone else takes the outer glove off for the person). He also said that spraying with liquid decontaminant, which they were using, always spread the contaminated substance everywhere, while powdered decontaminant works extremely well. Health professionals need true Hazmat training, not simply more involved techniques for isolation patients.
Adding in the mass incompetence at the political levels, I think we’re looking at a true potential disaster, especially in inner cities. We’ll know one way or the other after a couple more infectious cycles. Then Obama (an apparent master of oxymorons) will be able to demand many more medical SWAT teams. http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/upiUPI-20141016-071751-4136
“The blame needs to be on our Govt. take over of the healthcare system. It has become a disaster before Ebola hit. People are sooooooo clueless.”
Thanks, Lab Tech… all too true. And much of why I left medicine almost ten years ago. The handwriting was on the walls then. Big time. But placing the blame doesn’t solve the problems.
No, Claire… people are never going to be perfect. My point is still that infection control is very possible. It has to be an individual decision, that’s all. My understanding is that the doctors in Africa became contaminated after the could no longer endure the heat and discomfort of the “moon suits,” but their conditions otherwise were deplorable anyway. Nobody in the US is apt to have that problem. At least not yet.
I’d like to see the most recent statistics (knowing they are only an approximation of the reality) on hospital morbidity and mortality compared to measured compliance with handwashing alone. We’ve known for many years that hospital acquired infection and morbidity from them was on the rise, for many different reasons.
Over my 30 years in the field, I saw a steady erosion of compliance with the simple and vital exercise of self discipline and consideration for other people required for simple hand washing. The excuse that they just didn’t have TIME was given over and over. The fact that they did not have time in so many cases did not alter the fact that it was wrong, immoral, and illegal to go from one patient to the next with unwashed hands.
Now, if nurses and others can’t even be trusted to wash their hands appropriately, and do not have the time to do so, more and better “training” and so forth is not the answer. That’s all I’m saying. Maybe it’s past time for all health care professionals to take a good, hard look at their situation and those who create the disastrous conditions they face now… and work with others to do something about it. Demanding that government “do something” is obviously counter productive. Maybe it is time for atlas to shrug here too… I refused to work in such an environment. Is everyone else just waiting for “someone else” to solve the problems and make it better?
It’s a big mess, made even bigger by the situation our health care system finds itself in. Staying away from the sources of infection, including hospitals, sounds like a mighty fine idea. I don’t have any answers for anyone but myself, actually. I wish I did.
Where is common sense? Why did a nurse, someone with medical training, who knew she had been exposed to a deadly and highly contagious disease, think it was OK to fly to Ohio? I’m in Ohio, by the way, and am not happy that we are potentially facing this threat due to this individual’s stupidity and/or selfishness.
And what about her family? They certainly knew where she worked and what was happening there (unless they don’t read newspapers, watch TV, surf the web, or otherwise have exposure to news). Why didn’t they ask her if she had contact with the Ebola patient? Unless they did and she lied to them?
If someone in my family had this type of contact with an Ebola patient, I would not want them visiting me.
She was planning her wedding, the reason for the visit to Ohio. Common sense would be to put the wedding plans on hold for 21 days to see if she survives, otherwise it’s planning a funeral.
I wonder, do health care workers, who are around sick people all the time, suffer from denial? Is it a case of familiarity breeds contempt? If they really believed their work could kill them, they couldn’t work there, so they deny it?
I find this whole episode to be an outrage and mind-boggling. I hope I’m wrong, but I think this could get very ugly.
I was one of the “invisible” people in a hospital at my last job-a maintenance guy. I might be in a patient room,sewage pump room, ER, OR, or standing on top of the biohazard incinerator working on a blower motor-all in the same day. We had to put on bunny suits/booties/boof hats to go into the OR, but I dragged my tool bag everywhere ( a grody old gas mask bag re-enforced with pop-rivets and some leather I found in a dumpster). Very little in the way of training (figure it out as you go along). Lots of corner cutting, high employee turnover rate, and pressure to keep costs down ( “anyone off the street can replace you”). I suspect that’s not at all uncommon, especially at a hospital having serious financial problems.
An article on ZeroHedge confirms that the US of A is well and truly screwed regarding Ebola….despite having the “best healthcare system in the world.
“The Idiotic Explanation Why The “Idiot With The Clipboard” Was Unprotected”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-16/idiotic-explanation-why-idiot-clipboard-was-unprotected
Yup…..we live in an idiocracy. You may be an individualist anarchist of the first order but what they do, with or without govt guidance, may affect us all.
Excellent comments.
WE dont have hazmat suits in my hospital except a couple NBC types in the chemical bag designed for outside decontamination,not usable for an In House ebola case,and Ive worked at the other locals so NO,we do NOT have on site what is needed to safely deal with ebola,period.Droplet level ONLY is standard I have seen in the past and currently,that will NOT work when you can be covered in fluids,beds are SATURATED in fluids,they are filthy filthy filthy deaths.
Will they get on the ball,I wont hold my breath here,we are talking dollars and hospitals are struggling folks.And our managers have the management 101 line of “We feel your pain” and end of story.CDC is saying same thing,you know,the Hero line.While they totally blew it.
Proactive,not yet.Reactive,yes,as we are seeing.Inactive,all Im seeing in our area.
Nurses tell it like it is,this has ZERO to do with Unions except they are the only part of the equation that will even pay lip service to our protection.But very convenient to first attack the nurses,then the evil Union that spoke up,all the while the failure was from the top,CDC and poor guidelines,and hospitals meeting the minimum standards (its money,it isnt there,meeting payroll is hard now)
Yes,very important we dont let fear factor take over,same time better be a damn sight more vigilant than we have been and not underestimate the possible threat at all.
I hadnt heard on the Doctors without Borders numbers,heard NO DOCTORS,then some staff,now this on 9,so just dont know the facts on this.
I cant comment on all comments,but each are excellent points,WTG Peeps! Great insight and good sense and sharing,very re-assuring as we go forward.
Quick note,If you are preparing to deal with a family member with E,the yellow tychem suits are still available,the hoods with integral face shields are almost all sold out already on Amazon,with a 2-5 week wait….if ever.
For preps this is a real now or never time to get them its looking like.
I know I will sleep better know our new Ebola czar has absolutely no medical training or knowledge of epidemiology ( spread of disease). He is however a master at public information address. I’m sure we will get lots of useful/ truthful information out of the government from now on. After all we can’t have doctors out there telling us what is really going on and making our government look like the bunch of idiots they are. They are more concerned with protecting their image than taking appropriate measures to stop or prevent a serious disease outbreak.
Well, we have a beltway insider spin master in charge of the department of disinformation in re Ebola. He elected not to attend a White House meeting on Ebola last night.
We learn that the 101st Airborne Division WILL NOT get full hazmat suits. The same 101st of story and legend, heroes of D Day, Operation Market Garden and Bastogne, relegated to putting themselves in certain danger of contracting a deadly virus. The Screaming Eagles violently and efficiently kill people and break things, that’s what they do. That’s what we need them ready to do. They don’t hand out Kleenex and Handi Wipes.
We also hear that the Dear Leader intends to import Ebola infected persons from West Africa into the U.S. for treatment.
Next it will be service members being infected. This is as sure as the sunrise tomorrow.
The only thing in question is: What will be the most lasting legacy of the Obama administration; furthering the spread of a deadly virus because he needs to flood the country with unskilled, uneducated illegal aliens he intends to put on the public dole and eventually turn into democrat voters, or the deaths of hundreds of thousands because he will not take effective action against ISIS?
We are so screwed.
It would make sense for the Ebola plague to be downplayed until after the elections. http://www.infowars.com/medical-professional-health-authorities-covering-up-ebola-cases-in-u-s/