Ebola in Texas

[eytonxav]

The Posse Comitatus Act might prohibit that, although we are talking about the medical staff and their support staff, right? I'm not sure if that act would apply to medical personnel?

I do not believe the personnel that have been deployed are just medical.

 

[timo2]

I just wonder what people who may have been exposed, or definitely have been exposed, are thinking when they jump on a plane or cruise ship...

As for the travel ban, I thought I read early on that there aren't many, if any, direct flights to the most affected areas in Africa, so a flight ban would not be effective unless it used visas/passports, thereby stranding most of the "suspects" in Europe somewhere. Bet Europe would love that...

The CDC leadership has exhibited cranial-rectal inversion, but appears to be finally "getting it".

Nancy Snyderman should have known better, and should be quarantined in jail...

The most effective way, in my view, to slow this thing down is to focus on the areas in Africa where it's most prevalent, thus I support using our and other countries' militaries for logistical support.

+1

I think what happened to the CDC is they assumed they were dealing with competent hospital administrators at that hospital in Dallas.

 

[BTravlin]

Now it's hitting closer to home since there's a good chance that cruise ship has already been to Cozumel. Unfathomable that a health care worker who dealt with an Ebola patient's bodily fluids would get on a cruise ship soon afterwards considering everything that has been going on. Sheer stupidity? Selfishness? Or a combination of both?

 

[Meadbh]

Assumptions that are being proven incorrect include:

1. Hospital administrators have readied their staff and supplies to safely address an encounter with Ebola.
2. Healthcare workers understand incubation periods and will act rationally to protect the public.
3. The "system" works in a coordinated fashion.

Hence, leadership and mandatory compliance with infection control procedures are required.

 

[brewer12345]

Why am I having flashbacks to "World War Z?" The book, not the terrible movie.

 

[2B]

I notice this official report doesn't jive with the info coming in from behind the scenes via the nurses union. It indicates that they did have all the gear, were using it, and mentions nothing about how long it took to isolate the patient or for nurses to suit up with whatever gear they did have.

The nurses union that is so vocal does not represent the nurses at the Dallas hospital (to the best of my knowledge). Based on comments I heard from nurses from the hospital (but not the one's infected), they didn't have the full HAZMAT suits available nor where they led to believe they needed them. The protective gear used was more geared towards what they would wear if they got a more traditional infectious disease like measles.

 

[BTravlin]

Turns out the ship in question is the Carnival Magic and it was scheduled to dock here at 8 AM this morning but was denied by the local government. I can see the ship out my window just floating in the channel.

Thousands of passengers have had their vacations ruined. Carnival will probably have to have the entire ship sterilized before anyone will board it for the next cruise. Carnival will also have to compensate the affected passengers in some fashion. Belizean and Cozumelanian vendors have lost out on untold tourist dollars. And thousands of passengers and members could have been possibly exposed to the Ebola virus.

What an effing mess!

 

[2B]

Now it's hitting closer to home since there's a good chance that cruise ship has already been to Cozumel. Unfathomable that a health care worker who dealt with an Ebola patient's bodily fluids would get on a cruise ship soon afterwards considering everything that has been going on. Sheer stupidity? Selfishness? Or a combination of both?

How far do we expand the circle? The person on the cruise ship is a lab tech. Their exposure should approach zero. They would withdraw samples from vials with a syringe and inject it into a machine. Alternatively, they might take a few drops and run it through a wet chemical test. They are gloved and certainly don't want someone's blood on them.

The people at the hospital interact all over the greater Dallas area. Quarantine Dallas?

 

[brewer12345]

Turns out the ship in question is the Carnival Magic and it was scheduled to dock here at 8 AM this morning but was denied by the local government. I can see the ship out my window just floating in the channel.

Thousands of passengers have had their vacations ruined. Carnival will probably have to have the entire ship sterilized before anyone will board it for the next cruise. Carnival will also have to compensate the affected passengers in some fashion. Belizean and Cozumelanian vendors have lost out on untold tourist dollars. And thousands of passengers and members could have been possibly exposed to the Ebola virus.

What an effing mess!

Moreover, given the well publicized history of things like norovirus spreading through a cruiseship like a dose of prunes through a short grandmother, why in fook's sake would a lab worker of all people go on a cruise after being exposed to ebola?

 

[timo2]

Turns out the ship in question is the Carnival Magic and it was scheduled to dock here at 8 AM this morning but was denied by the local government. I can see the ship out my window just floating in the channel.

Thousands of passengers have had their vacations ruined. Carnival will probably have to have the entire ship sterilized before anyone will board it for the next cruise. Carnival will also have to compensate the affected passengers in some fashion. Belizean and Cozumelanian vendors have lost out on untold tourist dollars. And thousands of passengers and members could have been possibly exposed to the Ebola virus.

What an effing mess!

I've been on that ship on that cruise from Galveston. I feel bad for the crew. That crew was a really good one, and now they have to deal with the crabby passengers. Plus cleaning the ship. What about the cabin attendant for that particular cabin?

 

[BTravlin]

How far do we expand the circle? The person on the cruise ship is a lab tech. Their exposure should approach zero. They would withdraw samples from vials with a syringe and inject it into a machine. Alternatively, they might take a few drops and run it through a wet chemical test. They are gloved and certainly don't want someone's blood on them.

The people at the hospital interact all over the greater Dallas area. Quarantine Dallas?

Truthfully, this lab tech should not be a concern at all provided they followed all the usual protocols for dealing with bodily fluids, however, with CNN now the 24/7 Ebola channel on the prowl for more programming, anything and everything will be brought to the public's attention. The general public is going to be overly suspicious and cautious given what is being shown on the news.

I'm not really concerned with catching the virus but the ramifications from the health care workers moving about on mass transit right now are not good in the least. Logic seldom comes into play during such times.

 

[aja8888]

Pres names "Ebola Czar"

Former Biden chief of staff to lead Ebola response - Houston Chronicle

"WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is naming Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and a trusted adviser at the Obama White House, as the point man on the U.S. government's response to the Ebola crisis, the White House said Friday."

 

[timo2]

The people at the hospital interact all over the greater Dallas area. Quarantine Dallas?

Sure. If it would help calm the hysteria. Actually it would have the same limited effect as banning travel from west African countries. But the hysteria is turning out to be very widespread, so doing things that only are perceived to help instead of actually helping might be required.

 

[travelover]

...... But the hysteria is turning out to be very widespread, so doing things that only are perceived to help instead of actually helping might be required.

It's worked for the TSA so far.

 

[timo2]

It's worked for the TSA so far.

Historically, it has almost always worked. From the ancient tribes where the spiritual leader would perform ceremonial actions during a solar eclipse until the sun came back to whatever works now to make people think the bad stuff is taken care of.

 

[sheehs1]

The Dallas County DA, who was going to charge Duncan for crimes, should consider charging this nurse if anyone else gets Ebola from her.

She should have been a professional and stayed home.

The fact she got on a plane twice with a fever is stunning to me. I do not understand the lapse in judgement, putting tens of hundreds at risk. Is it at all possible she did not understand she had been working with an Ebola patient? Some that age keep their head in the sand, don't listen to the news, don't appreciate risks, etc.

The lab supervisor on a Carnival Cruise that "may" have worked with the blood analysis?? What is with these people?? With luck, she will get thru the next 2 to 3 days left on a 21 day incubation period scott free.

Pray.

 

[BTravlin]

The Carnival Magic has been pacing back and forth in the channel off Cozumel since 8 am this morning. It now appears as if the ship has been given orders to return to Galveston as it now steaming north away from Cozumel.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Quarantine Dallas? DS and his wife will have their new baby in [-]Ebola Central USA Division[/-]the Dallas Presbyterian Hospital in early spring. They are much less panicky than I would expect given the comments in the media--they just had an appointment today in the hospital for an ultrasound. I don't think people in Dallas are running around screaming in terror all the time, are they?

(Part of me thinks the Ebola introduction into the US will turn out to be the best thing that could have happened in terms of fighting and eradicating this horrible disease in that the spotlight and medical resouces are now focused on it.)

 

[timo2]

The Carnival Magic has been pacing back and forth in the channel off Cozumel since 8 am this morning. It now appears as if the ship has been given orders to return to Galveston as it now steaming north away from Cozumel.

So what do we guess will happen with it returns to Galveston? Sit for 21 days?

 

[EastWest Gal]

How far do we expand the circle? The person on the cruise ship is a lab tech. Their exposure should approach zero. They would withdraw samples from vials with a syringe and inject it into a machine. Alternatively, they might take a few drops and run it through a wet chemical test. They are gloved and certainly don't want someone's blood on them.

The people at the hospital interact all over the greater Dallas area. Quarantine Dallas?

I agree. The lab tech should have virtually zero risk and the maximum incubation period is 21 days, which is nearly here. Since the ship was not allowed to dock in Cozumel, it 's clear that dumb panic is international. No doubt there are planes flying in from west Africa, but the entire cruise ship has the "cooties". I'll bet the lawyers will be out in droves at the end of the cruise. "Ruined vacation" will become "pain and suffering".


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[BTravlin]

I agree. The lab tech should have virtually zero risk and the maximum incubation period is 21 days, which is nearly here. Since the ship was not allowed to dock in Cozumel, it 's clear that dumb panic is international. No doubt there are planes flying in from west Africa, but the entire cruise ship has the "cooties". I'll bet the lawyers will be out in droves at the end of the cruise. "Ruined vacation" will become "pain and suffering".


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The local mayor made the decision and I agree with his decision. While the lab tech is very low risk the island of Cozumel is almost 100% dependent upon tourism and cannot afford to take any risks in this regard. The swine flu epidemic in 2009 decimated tourism here for almost a year even though there was never a documented case on the island.

Just read a report that Carnival is giving all passengers on the Magic a $200 ship board credit for immediate use plus a 50% off coupon for a future cruise.

 

[MooreBonds]

3. The "system" works in a coordinated fashion.

Hence, leadership and mandatory compliance with infection control procedures are required.

And the next time you go to a movie that shows some gov't outfit in black, unmarked cars and weaponized military vehicles pulling up to an area and 'quarantining' an entire town/city for some "disease", you can with full confidence stand up and say "I realize this is a movie and requires suspension of belief, but the gov't doing this is completely unrealistic!"

Pres names "Ebola Czar"

Former Biden chief of staff to lead Ebola response - Houston Chronicle

One thing absent from Klain's resume: A medical background. Klain does not have any major public health experience, but the White House is calling the new post an "Ebola response coordinator," suggesting the role is intended more to synchronize the actions of various agencies rather than to weigh in on the specifics of how best to stop Ebola.

Let's see - the CDC themselves completely botched this from the beginning. So let's appoint someone with absolutely no medical training or background to oversee the gov't agency with scientists and medical professionals that is supposed to be overseeing everything to begin with.

Gee, I feel so much safer already!

 

[audreyh1]

Assumptions that are being proven incorrect include:

1. Hospital administrators have readied their staff and supplies to safely address an encounter with Ebola.
2. Healthcare workers understand incubation periods and will act rationally to protect the public.
3. The "system" works in a coordinated fashion.

Hence, leadership and mandatory compliance with infection control procedures are required.

I don't hear anything about the Texas Dep of Health. Aren't they the ones supposed to make sure things are being handled properly?

 

[audreyh1]

So what do we guess will happen with it returns to Galveston? Sit for 21 days?

Only if the lab tech shows symptoms within the next two days, which seems pretty unlikely.

 

[2B]

Only if the lab tech shows symptoms within the next two days, which seems pretty unlikely.

I saw an article that said 21 days still has a chance of not being long enough. It said Liberia uses 28 days. I wonder which country knows more about ebola?