I live in southeastern Virginia; my niece is an RN at a regional medial center that serves the area (it’s the only level one trauma center on our side of the water). She told me last week that her hospital’s ER has already treated several people who had recently returned from Africa and were displaying Ebola symptoms. So far, all have tested negative for the disease.
This scenario is playing out in medical centers all across the country. The number of suspected Ebola cases is much higher than we’ve been told. The hospitals are not reporting patients who are being screened, and neither is the CDC. Just a matter of time before one of these suspected cases is confirmed as Ebola and voila, you have your next outbreak.
According to the Washington Post, at least 36,000 people have flown out of Ebola-affected countries in West Africa over the past two months. Of course, all of them were screened, just like the late Mr. Duncan (nod, nod; wink, wink)
Why would they report negative test outcomes? What would be the point of that?