Ebola - What Should the Gubmint Do?

Of course you won't read this. Too many words? Or because it makes fun of all things the right wing holds holy? Truth comes in many forms.....

Uh-Oh !

Ebola may have arrived in NYC.

"A 33-year-old doctor who recently returned from the disease-wracked West African country of Guinea was rushed Thursday to Bellevue Hospital with symptoms of the deadly disease.
Dr. Craig Spencer, who was one of the medics working in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders, had been back for 10 days and told authorities he quarantined himself after developing nausea and a high fever, sources said.
But city health department officials were looking into reports that Spencer was at a bowling alley on Wednesday in Williamsburg and took an Uber taxi to get there, sources said.
Also, neighbor John Roston told the Daily News that Spencer lived with a girlfriend."

DonDiego commends Dr. Spencer for serving with Doctors Without Borders. And DonDiego sincerely hopes he is not infected by the Ebola virus.

But the fact that he is "exhibiting symptoms" and was "rushed" to the hospital suggests problems with the present policy of allowing folks to enter the country from the Ebola-affected region.
Specifically:
__Dr. Spencer says he placed himself in self-quarantine "after developing nausea and high fever".
____What about before he developed symptoms?
____How strictly did he observe his self-imposed quarantine?
____What about his apartment; if he has Ebola who's responsible for the clean-up?
__There are "reports" that he was in a bowling alley.
____Before or after his self-imposed quarantine?
____Who was at the bowling alley?
____Who was in the taxi cab since he was a passenger? Who's responsible for the taxi cab clean-up?
__There are reports of a girlfriend?
_____[The reader is encouraged to fill in his own questions.]

Perhaps as alanleroyII has suggested: ". . . medical professionals should be quarantined on their return...whether or not they show symptoms."
Oh, and that ban on travel to the USA for folks traveling from West Africa seems like a better and better idea every day.

n.b. DonDiego ascribes no evil motives to Dr. Spencer. But these events point out pitfalls of permitting travel from the Ebola-affected areas. It's not that people are evil, . . . or even bad; it's just that they're people ! Dumb things happen. Dumb things and fatal viruses do not mix well.

***UPDATE***
The above-linked report has been updated:

"Investigators are taking the case seriously because it appears the doctor didn't quarantine himself following his return, the law enforcement official said.
In a statement Thursday, Doctors Without Borders confirmed that the physicians recently returned from West Africa and was 'engaged in regular health monitoring.' The doctor contacted Doctors Without Borders Thursday to report a fever, the statement said.
The law enforcement official said the doctor was out in public. Authorities also quarantined his girlfriend, with whom he was spending time since his return from Africa.
The doctor began feeling sluggish a couple of days ago, but it wasn't until Thursday, when he developed 103-degree fever, that he contacted Doctors Without Borders, authorities said."

Hmm, . . . "spending time with"? Is that a euphemism for something else?

I would believe someone who HAS a medical degree would have come up with something far better in the same amount of time or less? I thought the Surgeon General (oops we don't have one) or the head of the CDC would be the lead on this stuff. We now have to require a czar? Oh that's right, the CDC head (idiot in charge) can't figure out how to set up a program for people infected with a disease that could become an epidemic when one has already been developed back during the cold war? F'ng brillant!!

I feel SOOOOOO safe now we have a "Czar"

Don't worry, be happy!

Folks use comedy when the truth and facts don't have enough clout.

That's true! .... In third world countries that have infected drinking water and hospitals made of tents.

And that's why its important to send lots of industrialized-world medical workers and supplies instead of instituting a flight ban that would allow the described rate of infection to continue at its pace.

Again...why do you think the best way to put resources on the problem is through commercial airlines?

Instead of forcing these medical workers and supplies on commercial airlines, wouldn't it be better to begin regularly scheduled military and medical relief flights where they are focused on Ebola?....Where they can actually follow disinfecting and disease control protocols??? Where they land in the US at military facilities and can follow proper quarantine procedures???? Think Man.

At this point why would you allow Tourists, Business Travelers and Visitors to just hop on a plane ride to Sierra Leone and Back? There is no justification for that. This is an Ebola War. Fight it with resources designed for the job. Not American Airlines.

Our Military could have twice the capacity of Commercial airliners going to Africa TOMORROW and ramp up from there. If only the Czar would order it.

You cant make an argument without slandering the people you cite. I didn't respond to your questions because you now have slandered the CDC. You said their official position was to do nothing....and asked me if I agreed with that. At no time has the CDC's position been to do nothing. I would ask you to quote anyone from the CDC who articulated that position...just like I asked you to quote me after you slandered me. You couldn't do it then...and you cant now - Because you are making up shit....and that's the only way you can defend your previous statements. So you're right, Alan! I refuse to answer your bogus questions that presume a false and slanderous disposition of the CDC.

The CDC has argued from day 1 your flight ban does more harm than good. That position has not changed. The only thing that has changed is now AlanLeroy tells us heightened airport screening is synonymous with banning flight travel. <INSERT LAUGH LINE HERE>

The doctor referenced above, in DonDiego's post of 4:36PM, has brought Ebola to NYC.

"A Harlem doctor who treated Ebola patients in West Africa before returning to New York earlier this month has tested positive for the deadly disease - the first such diagnosis in the city."

Ref: Ebola Arrives in NYC

DonDiego has no objection to sending trained medical personnel and supplies TO West Africa to fight the deadly virus.

DonDiego does not understand how placing a ban on travelers departing FROM West Africa to enter the United States would impede sending aid TO West Africa. Perhaps pjstroh can explain.