Tag: Ebola

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Democrat Political Hack Named Ebola Czar

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Democrat Political Hack Named Ebola Czar

GOP blasts Obama Ebola czar pick

New Czar has no background or infectious disease experience?

No he is not a Doctor

By David McCabe – 10/17/14 12:24 PM EDT

No sooner had the White House announced that it had selected Ron Klain to coordinate the administration’s response to concerns about the Ebola virus than several congressional Republicans were expressing anger about the pick.

Most highlighted Klain’s past as a political operative. He is a former chief of staff to Vice President Biden and a longtime aide to Democratic campaigns. Those criticizing Klain included Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), who chaired Thursday’s hearing on the response to the virus.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/221086-republicans-blast-obamas-pick-for-ebola-czar

 

 

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The administration’s Ebola evasions reveal its disdain for the American people.

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Who Do They Think We Are?

The administration’s Ebola evasions reveal its disdain for the American people.

The administration’s handling of the Ebola crisis continues to be marked by double talk, runaround and gobbledygook. And its logic is worse than its language. In many of its actions, especially its public pronouncements, the government is functioning not as a soother of public anxiety but the cause of it.

An example this week came in the dialogue between Megyn Kelly of Fox News and Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control.

Their conversation focused largely on the government’s refusal to stop travel into the United States by citizens of plague nations. “Why not put a travel ban in place,” Ms. Kelly asked, while we shore up the U.S. public-health system?

Dr. Frieden replied that we now have screening at airports, and “we’ve already recommended that all nonessential travel to these countries be stopped for Americans.” He added: “We’re always looking at ways that we can better protect Americans.”

“But this is one,” Ms. Kelly responded.

Dr. Frieden implied a travel ban would be harmful: “If we do things that are going to make it harder to stop the epidemic there, it’s going to spread to other parts of—”

Ms. Kelly interjected, asking how keeping citizens from the affected regions out of America would make it harder to stop Ebola in Africa.

“Because you can’t get people in and out.”

“Why can’t we have charter flights?”

“You know, charter flights don’t do the same thing commercial airliners do.”

“What do you mean? They fly in and fly out.”

Dr. Frieden replied that limiting travel between African nations would slow relief efforts. “If we isolate these countries, what’s not going to happen is disease staying there. It’s going to spread more all over Africa and we’ll be at higher risk.”

Later in the interview, Ms. Kelly noted that we still have airplanes coming into the U.S. from Liberia, with passengers expected to self-report Ebola exposure.

Dr. Frieden responded: “Ultimately the only way—and you may not like this—but the only way we will get our risk to zero here is to stop the outbreak in Africa.”

Ms. Kelly said yes, that’s why we’re sending troops. But why can’t we do that and have a travel ban?

“If it spreads more in Africa, it’s going to be more of a risk to us here. Our only goal is protecting Americans—that’s our mission. We do that by protecting people here and by stopping threats abroad. That protects Americans.”

https://online.wsj.com/articles/who-do-they-think-we-are-1413502475

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NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell: ‘The Federal Government Hasn’t Handled A Single Thing Right’

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NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell: ‘The Federal Government Hasn’t Handled A Single Thing Right’
October 14, 2014 2:28 PM
By Dom Giordano

“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.” Jeff Bell 

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Dom Giordano talked to New Jersey Senate Candidate Jeff Bell on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT. Bell, a Republican, is challenging incumbent Corey Booker in November’s election.

Bell claimed that Senator Booker supports all of President Obama’s economic policies and said rather than helping the middle class, they put them at a disadvantage.

“Most people don’t want to get into the Wall Street stock market casino and it’s a tremendously wearing thing for the middle class, not for the rich people. People that don’t need a loan find it very easy to get a loan at these low interest rates.”

He believes returning to the gold standard would stabilize the economy and boost small businesses.

“The gold standard is the system that levels the playing field. If you know what you’re money is going to be worth one year from now, two years from now, five years from now, then you can navigate. It’s a simpler world. You can get interest on savings. The long term interest rate is up, enough to get savings. Small business is the most important element, from and economic standpoint, that would be liberated because they have a difficulty getting lines of credit that are so low that community banks don’t want to make risky loans when they have so little return.”

Bell also insists the federal government is not equipped to handle crises like Ebola.

“This federal government is completely dysfunctional. They haven’t handled a single thing right and their idea is that they can impose a top down model on every issue, whether it’s monetary policy, disease control, the Common Core education standards and the Affordable Care Act above all.”

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/10/14/nj-senate-candidate-jeff-bell-the-federal-government-hasnt-handled-a-single-thing-right/

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Experts Offer Steps for Avoiding Public Hysteria, a Different Contagious Threat

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Experts Offer Steps for Avoiding Public Hysteria, a Different Contagious Threat

By BENEDICT CAREYOCT. 15, 2014As health officials scramble to explain how two nurses in Dallas became infected with Ebola, psychologists are increasingly concerned about another kind of contagion, whose symptoms range from heightened anxiety to avoidance of public places to full-blown hysteria.

So far, emergency rooms have not been overwhelmed with people afraid that they have caught the Ebola virus, and no one is hiding in the basement and hoarding food. But there is little doubt that the events of the past week have left the public increasingly worried, particularly the admission by Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that the initial response to the first Ebola case diagnosed in the United States was inadequate.

On Wednesday, the C.D.C. offered up the latest piece of bad news, announcing that a second infected nurse in Dallas had flown back from Cleveland a day before developing symptoms. Even before the announcement, two-thirds of the respondents to a Washington Post-ABC News poll said they were concerned about a widespread epidemic of Ebola in this country.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/health/ebolas-other-contagious-threat-hysteria.html?_r=0

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U.S. lacks a single standard for Ebola response

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U.S. lacks a single standard for Ebola response

 Larry Copeland, USA TODAY8:11 p.m. EDT October 12, 2014

Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this timeline gave a different date for Thomas Eric Duncan’s first visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The hospital revised the date.

ATLANTA — As Thomas Eric Duncan’s family mourns the USA’s first Ebola death in Dallas, one question reverberates over a series of apparent missteps in the case: Who is in charge of the response to Ebola?

The answer seems to be — there really isn’t one person or agency. There is not a single national response.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emerged as the standard-bearer — and sometimes the scapegoat — on Ebola.

Public health is the purview of the states, and as the nation anticipates more Ebola cases, some experts say the way the United States handles public health is not up to the challenge.

“One of the things we have to understand is the federal, state and local public health relationships,” says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “Public health is inherently a state issue. The state really is in charge of public health at the state and local level. It’s a constitutional issue. The CDC can’t just walk in on these cases. They have to be invited in.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/12/examining-the-nations-ebola-response/17059283/

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Dr. Aileen Marty tells Fusion what she saw fighting Ebola in Nigeria

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Dr. Aileen Marty tells Fusion what she saw fighting Ebola in Nigeria
By AMERICA WITH JORGE RAMOS @ThisIsAmerica

The Ebola outbreak continues to spiral out of control. Near the epicenter of the epidemic in West Africa, more than 3,400 people have died and more than 7,000 people have been infected with the virus. Officials are scrambling to contain the outbreak at its source and keep it from spreading.

The World Health Organization is sending doctors to countries where the virus is most prevalent — Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Fusion’s Jorge Ramos spoke to one of the doctors, Dr. Aileen Marty, who recently returned home to Miami after spending 31 days in Nigeria. She says she was surprised what happened when she arrived at Miami International Airport.

“I get to the kiosk…mark the fact that I’ve been in Nigeria and nobody cares, nobody stopped me,” Marty said.

“Not a single test?” Ramos asked her, surprised.

“Nothing,” Marty answered.

The White House recently announced it would implement additional measures for screening passengers coming into the U.S. from Ebola-stricken countries. New screenings will start at five major airports across the country, including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.

https://fusion.net/video/20107/dr-aileen-marty-tells-fusion-what-she-saw-fighting-ebola-in-nigeria/

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CDC could quarantine U.S. citizens for weeks if they refuse Ebola screenings

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CDC could quarantine U.S. citizens for weeks if they refuse Ebola screenings
Non-citizens could be turned back
By Olivier Knox 3 hours ago Yahoo News

U.S. citizens who refuse to undergo the new screenings for Ebola at five major American airports could find themselves held in quarantine for up to three weeks, officials told Yahoo News on Thursday. Non-citizens who refuse the screenings could be quarantined or turned away from U.S. soil by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Obama Administration announced on Wednesday that it would soon require passengers from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone — the countries at the epicenter of the deadly outbreak in West Africa — to answer questions about their potential exposure to the illness and to have their temperature taken upon arrival.

Officials unveiled the new rules hours after the only patient thus far diagnosed with Ebola on U.S. soil, Thomas Eric Duncan, died of the illness. Neighbors said he helped a pregnant woman in Liberia get to a hospital, where she was turned away from a crowded Ebola treatment ward. Liberian government officials said they planned to prosecute him for lying on health forms by denying any contact with an Ebola patient.

https://news.yahoo.com/cdc-could-quarantine-u-s–citizens-for-weeks-if-they-refuse-ebola-screenings-230534518.html

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Newly Vigilant, U.S. Will Screen Fliers for Ebola

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Newly Vigilant, U.S. Will Screen Fliers for Ebola

By SABRINA TAVERNISEOCT. 8, 2014

ATLANTA — Federal health officials will require temperature checks for the first time at five major American airports for people arriving from the three West African countries hardest hit by the deadly Ebolavirus. However, health experts said the measures were more likely to calm a worried public than to prevent many people with Ebola from entering the country.

Still, they constitute the first large-scale attempt to improve security at American ports of entry since the virus arrived on American soil last month.

They are also a notable policy shift at a time of rising concern about the disease. Public health officials had initially resisted the move, saying such checks would be an unnecessary use of thinly stretched resources. But pressure for tougher action mounted. Republicans sharply criticized President Obama for what they called a lax response. Many, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, have suggested looking at air travel restrictions from West Africa, something the administration has rejected.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/us/newly-vigilant-us-is-to-screen-fliers-for-ebola.html?src=twr&_r=0

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N.J. hospitals are well prepared to fight Ebola, state medical officials say

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N.J. hospitals are well prepared to fight Ebola, state medical officials say

OCTOBER 4, 2014    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JAMES M. O’NEILL
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

New Jersey’s 71 hospitals have the space and equipment, and their medical staffs are trained, to react to any patient with a suspected case of Ebola, including moving them to an isolation room immediately, state health officials say.

Since early August, the Health Department has held conference calls and issued alerts to share and review protocol for handling patients who may be carrying the virus.

And in the past few weeks, North Jersey hospitals have run drills simulating cases of patients checking into their emergency rooms saying they had recently been in West Africa — where the recent Ebola outbreak is centered — to ensure that they isolate such patients for treatment, officials say.

Local ERs have installed signs at their check-in areas asking patients to let staff know immediately if they have traveled recently to the region and have fever and other Ebola-related symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea and severe headache.

Officials say the case of Ebola in Dallas this week — where information that the patient had been in West Africa was apparently not transferred to medical staff — only reinforced the need for hospitals to take down the travel history of anyone showing signs of the illness.

“There’s definitely a heightened sense of awareness about this, and hospitals will certainly learn the lesson from the Dallas case about the importance of communicating critical information,” said Shannon Davila, an infection-control nurse with the New Jersey Hospital Association.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/n-j-hospitals-well-prepared-to-fight-ebola-1.1102418#sthash.VQGu8aJQ.dpuf

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Dallas Ebola case spurs concern about hospital readiness

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Dallas Ebola case spurs concern about hospital readiness

A D.C.-area hospital admitted a patient with symptoms and a travel history associated with Ebola.

By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Elahe Izadi October 3 at 10:52 PM    

A Washington-area hospital announced Friday that it had admitted a patient with symptoms and a travel history associated with Ebola. The case has not been confirmed, but the number of similar incidents around the country and a confirmed Ebola patient in Dallas have spurred concerns about whether U.S. hospitals are as prepared to deal with the virus as federal officials insist they are.

Since July, hospitals around the country have reported more than 100 cases involving Ebola-like symptoms to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials there said. Only one patient so far — Thomas Duncan in Dallas — has been diagnosed with Ebola.

But in addition to lapses at the Dallas hospital where Duncan is being treated, officials say they are fielding inquiries from hospitals and health workers that make it clear that serious questions remain about how to properly and safely care for potential Ebola patients.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dallas-ebola-case-spurs-concern-about-hospital-readiness/2014/10/03/4afa10b2-4b30-11e4-a046-120a8a855cca_story.html

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We Gambled with Ebola and Lost

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We Gambled with Ebola and Lost
Let us finally end the crazy “diversity” visa lottery.
By Michelle Malkin

Ebola has reached our shores from Africa. Dozens of children are reportedly suffering paralysis from a deadly virus with unknown origins. Medical providers across the country have warned of a looming public-health crisis as communicable diseases spread unmonitored and uncontrolled. Other countries are cracking down. But America is stuck on open-borders stupid.

The Diversity Visa (DV) program, to take just one glaring example of government insanity, is still going.

On October 1, the State Department opened the annual DV random lottery to applicants from around the world. Yes, it’s completely random, like a Powerball drawing. Up to 55,000 lucky winners will snag permanent residency visas (green cards), which put them on the path to American citizenship ahead of millions of other foreigners patiently waiting to come to this country.

The green-card-lotto winners’ spouses and unmarried children under 21 all get golden tickets into the country too, no matter where they were born.

Illegal aliens are eligible if a legal family member wins the jackpot. Applicants don’t even need a high-school education. No outstanding abilities, training, or job skills are necessary. A handful of countries are excluded if they no longer qualify as “underrepresented.” But if you come from a terror-sponsoring or terror-friendly nation — such as Iran, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, or more than a dozen officially designated terror enablers on the State Department’s list — no worries. Thousands from these breeding grounds for jihad will walk through our front doors.

https://www.nationalreview.com/article/389471/we-gambled-ebola-and-lost-michelle-malkin

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Scrutiny in Texas to Detect Whether Ebola Has Spread

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Scrutiny in Texas to Detect Whether Ebola Has Spread

By MANNY FERNANDEZ and NORIMITSU ONISHIOCT. 1, 2014

DALLAS — The man who has become the first Ebola patient to develop symptoms in the United States told officials at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital last Friday that he had just arrived from West Africa but was not admitted that day because that information was not passed along at the hospital, officials acknowledged Wednesday.

The man, Thomas E. Duncan, was sent home under the mistaken belief that he had only a mild fever, a hospital administrator said; the information that he had traveled from Liberia, one of the nations at the heart of the Ebola epidemic, was overlooked.

Mr. Duncan came back to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday and was admitted for treatment, but in those two days in between, his contacts with a number of people — including five schoolchildren and the medics who helped transport him to the hospital — potentially exposed them to Ebola, forcing officials to monitor and isolate them in their homes and to begin a thorough cleaning of the schools the students attended. Mr. Duncan is now in serious but stable condition.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/us/after-ebola-case-in-dallas-health-officials-seek-those-who-had-contact-with-patient.html?_r=0

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Wary of Ebola, Dallas parents pull kids from school

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Wary of Ebola, Dallas parents pull kids from school
Posted Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2014
BY BILL HANNA

billhanna@star-telegram.com

DALLAS — Parents rushed to get their children from school Wednesday after learning that five students may have had contact with the Ebola patient in a Dallas hospital, as Gov. Rick Perry and other leaders reassured the public that there is no cause for alarm.

The patient, identified by The Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia, arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20 to visit family. Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Zachary Thompson said county officials suspect that 12 to 18 people may have had contact with Duncan.

“Right now, the base number is 18 people, and that could increase,” he said. Thompson said more details are expected by Thursday afternoon. The number includes five students at four schools, Dallas school district Superintendent Mike Miles said.

“This case is serious,” Perry said during a news conference at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where Duncan is being treated. “Rest assured that our system is working as it should. Professionals on every level on the chain of command know what to do to minimize this potential risk to the people of Texas and of this country.”

Miles said Dallas school officials learned Wednesday morning that five students at four schools — Tasby Middle, L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary, Dan D. Rogers Elementary and Conrad High — had come in contact with Duncan. Lowe Elementary is also being watched because it connects to Tasby.

Read more here: https://www.star-telegram.com/2014/10/01/6165611/officials-say-only-one-ebola-case.html#storylink=cpy

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CDC: Working to identify anyone who had contact with sick patient during infectious period

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CDC: Working to identify anyone who had contact with sick patient during infectious period

Everett Rosenfeld | @Ev_Rosenfeld

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States at a Tuesday news conference.

The CDC said that the patient had come from Liberia, and did not show any symptoms when he arrived in the United States on Sept. 20. The organization said it is closely monitoring the situation.

“It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual…could develop Ebola in the coming weeks,” said Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director. “But there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here.”

Frieden said public health officials will be working to identify all of those who may have had contact with the patient while he could have been infectious. Once identified, these individuals will be monitored for 21 days to see if they develop symptoms, Frieden said.

https://www.cnbc.com/id/102046854

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Obama Plans Major Ebola Offensive

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Obama Plans Major Ebola Offensive

More Doctors, Supplies and Portable Hospitals Planned for Africa

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama plans to dramatically boost the U.S. effort to mitigate the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including greater involvement of the U.S. military, people familiar with the proposal said.

Mr. Obama is expected to detail the plan during a visit Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, these people said. Among the possible moves: sending additional portable hospitals, doctors and health-care experts, providing medical supplies and conducting training for health workers in Liberia and other countries.

Mr. Obama also is expected to urge Congress to approve the request he made last week for an additional $88 million to fund his proposal.

“There’s a lot that we’ve been putting toward this, but it is not sufficient,” Lisa Monaco, Mr. Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, said in an interview Sunday. “So the president has directed a more scaled-up response and that’s what you’re going to hear more about on Tuesday.”

https://online.wsj.com/articles/obama-plans-major-ebola-offensive-1410738096