Posted on 08/03/2014 10:55:01 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The government on Thursday warned Americans to stay away from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the West African countries recently hit by the largest outbreak of Ebola since the deadly virus surfaced almost 40 years ago.
Since it began in March, the outbreak has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700. The head of the World Health Organization said the virus is moving faster than efforts to control it.
As presidents from the affected countries gathered Friday in Guinea's capital, Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said the meeting "must be a turning point" in the battle against Ebola, which is now sickening people in three African capitals for the first time.
"If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said.
Newark's Liberty International Airport and New York's JFK are among two of 20 stateside points of entry staffed with quarantine stations.
A spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Disease Control said health and airline officials at both customs stations and on board airliners are continuously tasked with identifying signs of illness in travelers, including now Ebola.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Seems very presumptuous for a disease with
a latency of THREE WEEKS.
So just how many experts in infectious diseases will be on hand to screen passengers?
Sounds like the usual band of highly competent, dedicated bureaucrats.
So there’s nothing to worry about.
Begs the question why is the US government still allowing commercial flights into the affected countries in West Africa.Just a matter of time before there are cases or even an endemic outbreak in the US.
Why aren’t they giving Asylum to all ebola victims?
By the time they reach the airport on our shores it is too late for whatever other passengers had close contact with them.
Why aren’t they giving Asylum to all ebola victims?
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Most of ‘em won’t live long enough to vote ‘Rat in November.
Why aren’t they giving Asylum to all ebola victims?
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Amended reply:
Most of ‘em won’t live long enough to vote ‘Rat in November. Then again, the ‘Rats don’t seem to have a problem with dead people voting so ..... yeah, I see your point!!
Have you seen the TSA folks at Newark?
And THEY will be able to ID an Ebola virus carrier?
OMG! What could go wrong?
What about the airports in Mexico?
Y'beat me to it. I was going to ask if they can identify the disease in real time, or only after the airport workers start dropping like flies three weeks later.
Doesn't it seem unlikely that they'll be doing blood tests on all entrants to the country? So, in that case, they'll only test high-probability carriers... and they're bound to miss a few. It will be CDC people ably helped by DHS personnel, /S.
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If it’s already at the airport, it’s too late. WAY too late.
I know of one airport that had a scanner that could tell if a traveler had an elevated temperature.
Yeah ..... that’s the ticket. A little fever.
Maybe if blood is streaming from a traveler’s nostrils?
If it is airborne by aerosol spray, maybe if people are sneezing?
Of course if you’re too close, you’re screwed if it’s the Zaire strain.
Isn’t the Zaire strain the one with a 10-15 percent survival rate? If so that’s brutal.
The current outbreak has positively been identified as the Zaire strain but the reason for the lower mortality is not known (perhaps better care; perhaps mutation, or something else).
Oh, great, now there’s another reason to hassle little old grandmas and under aged hotties while turning a blind eye to certain other groups.
Sure, as if every passenger will willing submit to a blood test or any other delay. Let’s see them try stopping the likes of a Sheila Jackon Lee at an airport. Some animals are more equal than others.
The article states that there are 20 airports of entry staffed and equipped to detect Ebola infected arrivals.
Great!
But, how many airports are ports of entry for international travelers? I am not talking about every airport that lists itself as an “International’ airport. But, how many airports routinely handle international flights.
Unless every international arrival from an Ebola infected area, both current and future, arrives at one of those 20 airports the Republic is still dangerously exposed.
"I have a headache and I'm vomiting blood. Get me to my hotel! Do you know who I am?"
The real problem is, who do you test, if you don't test everyone?
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