Comments on: Good Morning, America. There is another Ebola case. UPDATED

By: Jim Schenke

Jim Schenke — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:57:10 +0000

If you think that Sander is some sort of FOX NEWS stooge, do your homework and check out his progressive campaigns for office against the likes of conservative Steve Buyer (R-IN).

By: Jim Schenke

Jim Schenke — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 19:53:20 +0000

Do your research and you will see that it was CNN who first ran with Sanders expertise.

By: Hank Roberts

Hank Roberts — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 23:37:13 +0000

> at least one instance of airborne Ebola

One patient flying in an airplane.

That’s transportation, not transmission.

Don’t confuse the two.

By: proximity1

proximity1 — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 09:25:51 +0000

@ 16 & 17 :

Think of it this way– those nurses who are union members may be and more likely are on paid leave while those, if any, who aren’t union members are not or are _much_ less likely to be, on paid leave.

—————–

Now we know of at least one instance of airborne Ebola :

“it flew” Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth Oct. 13 and, as usual, the public is told,

…”The safety and security of our customers and employees is our primary concern.” (Frontier Airlines)

…”passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 are at “extremely low risk” of being exposed.” ( Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Thomas Frieden )

This is the equivalent of “no harmful radiation was released.” I don’t think Dr. Frieden’s assurance is more than sheer conjecture on his part. I doubt he has any very good idea of what the likelihood of exposure was during that particular flight–unless he was aboard and seated next to the nurse in question.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:14:50 +0000

Or maybe it is unpaid leave….

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:14:17 +0000

The nurses are not working in the hospital, and are on paid leave, according to the recent news conference.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:12:17 +0000

In Nigeria, that happened in the same way it is happening here. A few people got infected by one person arriving from a different country, then it died out. Which is interesting.

By: Omega Centauri

Omega Centauri — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 02:53:23 +0000

This whole episode makes me worry about our care-system. In Nigeria, the Replication factor went from an estimated value of two, to about .4 once they got serious. Our system insists on trying its best to save each patient, almost regardless of cost. In the case of patient zero, R is at least 2. Can we give good care, and minimize R at the same time? At least in the unawakened state at one hospital the answer is no.

Well we are trying a lot harder now, CDC teams ready to swoop in and take over. Hopes its enough.

By: jane

jane — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:07:57 +0000

It should be extremely unlikely that this patient infected anyone on that flight – but unlikely isn’t impossible. However, the nurses caring for Duncan were told only to do self-monitoring, rather than the more intrusive monitoring by health officials, because they were perceived as being “not really at risk.” If they believed they were quite safe and were only monitoring at all out of an abundance of caution, there would be no reason for them to avoid public transportation. It is appearing under American conditions that sharing housing or even a bed with a patient in early stages is less risky than performing some aspects of medical care, with typical protective gear and training, on a patient who has become extremely ill. This is problematic because some of those staff must use public transportation just to get to wok.

Nurses have said that staff caring for Duncan were actually caring for other patients on the same day. If these two nurses got droplets or aerosol on a suit, say, which then got on their skin during disrobing and eventually infected them, then went to other patients’ rooms, it is not impossible that they could have touched something else with that skin surface and exposed another patient. This seems unwise, and I bet they will change it quickly. But then, if involved nursing staff at a community hospital must be considered semi-high-risk for infection, should they not care for non-Ebola patients until 21 days after their last contact with an Ebola patient? It’s been noted that nurses at this hospital are not unionized and have very little clout with management. Will the hospital pay for them to take three weeks’ vacation (which I would say they have richly earned)?

By: Brainstorms

Brainstorms — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:46:18 +0000

And now we find that this nurse was on a plane the day before showing symptoms…

Must be something about Ebola that it makes its victims want to travel around during the incubation period.