Monday, October 27, 2014

More restrictions, Same Level Of Intelligence - updated



MINNESOTA:
Medical Personnel potentially exposed to Ebola while treating patients in west Africa will be confined to their homes for 21 days when they return to Minnesota, state health officials announced Monday, as authorities across the nation continued grapple with appropriate safeguards against the deadly virus.
Gov. Mark Dayton, joined by experts including the Health Department’s chief attorney and a leading University of Minnesota bioethicist, said such restrictions might be burdensome, but they would give the state the best chance to keep Ebola from spreading if someone brings the virus into the state.
“My number one priority is to do whatever will best protect all Minnesotans from exposure to this disease,” Dayton said.
Restrictions would vary for other travelers returning from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — the three nations at the center of the Ebola outbreak — depending on their perceived risk levels, state officials explained. Those who simply traveled to those countries to visit relatives would be asked to submit to daily health monitoring when they return to the state. Health care providers who cared for Ebola patients but had no known exposure to the virus would not need home confinement. Health care providers with potential exposures, such as being stuck with a needle while caring for an Ebola patient, would be confined at home.                                            Minnesota has the added concern of a robust population of 30,000 residents from Liberia who might travel back to the country or host relatives from there. All travelers returning from the West African nations would be subject to travel restrictions. Those potentially exposed to Ebola during their travels would be banned from public transportation, while all travelers under monitoring would be asked to refrain from trips using public transportation lasting longer than three hours.
 Because apparently not being exposed, and travelling around for LESS than 3 hours is totally cool; like say, getting meatball sandwiches, or going bowling.
But hey, they're being "asked to refrain".
Maybe they could try that out for all other threats to the community, like robbers and such.
Jackasses!

FLORIDA:
(AP) Florida Gov. Rick Scott is ordering twice daily monitoring for anyone returning from places the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates as affected by Ebola.
Scott signed the order Saturday, giving the Florida Health Department authority to monitor individuals for 21 days. Scott said in a press release that his administration had asked the CDC to identify risk levels of returning individuals from specific parts of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, requesting information specifically about the risk level for four people who had already returned. His office said that the CDC had identified the four individuals who faced some risk but had not provided the levels of risk.
"Therefore, we are moving quickly to require the four individuals who have returned to Florida already - and anyone in the future who will return to Florida from an Ebola area - to take part in twice daily 21-day health evaluations with DOH personnel," he said.

Thus both states get to perform CYA, make it feel like they're "doing something", but without either actually pissing off Washington D.C. minions, or actually protecting the public.
Genius. These guys could trade Magic Beans for cows.

These beans are GUARANTEED to protect you from Ebola!
 
UPDATE:
Georgia says "Me six!":
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal is ramping up monitoring for all travelers coming to Georgia from Ebola-affected countries.
“We are taking every necessary precaution to ensure that Georgia stands prepared to manage the risks associated with Ebola,” Deal said.
Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is one of five airports in the U.S. that is a designated point of entry for travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
"I have developed, in coordination with my Ebola Response Team, a policy to more aggressively monitor travelers from affected countries, symptomatic or not, and quarantine if need be. We are taking these proactive steps to protect the health of the people of our state, and this new policy is an altogether effective and appropriate response at this time," Deal said.
Previous policy for West African travelers required checking for symptoms and isolating any symptomatic passengers. In accordance with Deal's plan, travelers who show no symptoms will be placed in one of three categories for further monitoring.
  • Category 1, high risk – Travelers with known direct exposure to an Ebola patient. Travelers in this category will be subject to quarantine at a designated facility.
  • Category 2, low risk – Travelers from affected area with no known exposure to an Ebola patient. Travelers in this category will sign a monitoring agreement with the Georgia Department of Public Health. This agreement requires travelers to conduct temperature and symptom self-checks twice per day and report results to Public Health once per day (electronic, email or phone contact acceptable). Travelers who fail to report during the 21-day incubation period will be contacted by Public Health and issued a mandatory quarantine order if necessary.
  • Category 3 – Medical personnel actively involved in treating Ebola patients returning to the United States. Individuals in this category will be issued a 21-day active monitoring order and will be visually monitored (video communications or home visit) by Public Health twice per day. Public Health will assess for the development of symptoms and adjust restrictions as necessary. Noncompliance will result in quarantine at a state-designated facility.

20 comments:

  1. And now for some news on Ebola:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2809803/Ebola-surfaces-TWO-months-Tests-reveal-certain-strains-survive-weeks-stored-low-temperatures.html

    Still saying you need direct contact, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They're a little behind the curve still. The actual time period is over 7 weeks:
    SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Filoviruses have been reported capable to survive for weeks in blood and can also survive on contaminated surfaces, particularly at low temperatures (4°C). In another study, Ebolavirus dried onto glass, polymeric silicone rubber, or painted aluminum alloy is able to survive in the dark for several hours under ambient conditions (between 20°C and 25°C and 30–40% relative humidity) (amount of virus reduced to 37% after 15.4 hours), but is less stable than some other viral hemorrhagic fevers (Lassa). When dried in tissue culture media onto glass and stored at 4 °C, Zaire ebolavirus survived for over 50 days.
    http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php

    ReplyDelete
  3. All of these reports display a very unserious attitude about this threat.

    Given this lack of rigorous isolation and controls around those individuals travelling from ebola contact regions, it would seem all but certain that this virus will make it into the general population of this country in some significant degree with the only real variable being how long it takes for this to occur.

    Clearly there are a lot of unknowns, how long and at what stages of the disease an infected person is contagious, how lethal it ends up being in our population, and many others.

    That said, it seems clear to me that for whatever reason our public officials have determined that rigorous protection and isolation steps are not going to be mandated, and that more of us are going to be exposed, become sick and die.

    I am not a doctor, but I don't think you have to be to come to these conclusions.

    This is all very troubling. Someone tell me I am wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're not wrong. You're absolutely right.

      More absolute idiocy brought to you by the Complete Clown from Kenya.

      Pitchforks.....Torches.....Rope.

      Delete
    2. Well, all I can say is this.

      Thank goodness under Obamacare we all can count on being able to keep our doctors and our plans. Thank goodness that all our premiums will be reduced by $2500.

      You know we can all rest assured that the president is seeing to it that there is not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS, and that ...

      Oh I give up. You all know the drill by now no doubt.

      Delete
    3. I don't think mercilessly mocking AnonymousOctober 27, 2014 at 4:40 PM is enough. I am new here but not new enough to know you and your comment are not welcome. Go pollute some sewer somewhere.

      Delete
  4. More info:

    https://twitter.com/NDAA2012/status/526809301420376065/photo/1

    ReplyDelete
  5. "2.2.4. Ebola Characterization
    The means by which Ebola virus is maintained in nature remains unclear. One reservoir of this zoonotic pathogen is believed to be in bats, but it is unknown what other natural reservoirs exist. Distinct Ebola viral sequences have been identified in infected but healthy mice and shrews. (Pourrut et al., 2005) indicating there may be other unknown reservoirs. A better understanding of Ebola persistence under a variety of environmental conditions may help us identify other possible reservoirs and hosts to research reservoirs and other modes of transmission. While current science indicates the disease can only be transmitted by contact with contaminated body fluids, it remains unclear if other transmission modes are feasible. Filoviruses are able to infect via the respiratory route and are lethal at very low doses in experimental animal models, however the infectious dose is unknown. There is minimal information on how well filoviruses survive within aerosolized particles, and in certain media like the biofilm of sewage systems. Preliminary studies indicate that Ebola is aerostable in an enclosed controlled system in the dark and can survive for long periods in different liquid media and can also be recovered from plastic and glass surfaces at low temperatures for over 3 weeks (Piercy, et al., 2010). "

    From:

    https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=911d64b9ded9491e7f6278dec44bbc1a

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The other reservoir is arthropods.
      Bugs, and such.
      Maybe shrimp and crabs?

      Delete
  6. Let's see what becomes of Miss Hickox, public shunning, if I were her significant other I'd be stand offish about cuddling for a while.
    Surely bitchin' yourself out of quarantine and threats to sue will harm her future job prospects.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The talking heads are still claiming that the best way to stop Ebola from getting here is to fight it over there and that they don't want to play politics with Ebola.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The best way to fight Ebola IS to fight it over there, which is a whole lot safer than trying to fight it over here.

    But the Obama administration can always be relied upon to do the absolutely most retarded thing possible.

    I was just watching Megan Kelly on Fox News. She was interviewing a US congressman, Goodlatte (R-VA), regarding the congressman's recent letter to the White House inquiring if the US is going to be bring live Ebola patients in for treatment. No response from the WH yet, but evidently the US military has specially made patient transport containers designed for use on military transports.

    And WTF are they going to do with them. Bring actual Ebola patients to the US for treatment (!) or at least so it seems.

    I suppose no one in the "we can't offend the Africans or inconvenience the doctors" administration thought about perhaps setting up the treatment facilities OVER THERE so we don't have to bring them OVER HERE. A major risk reduction factor to be had by doing it this way, dontcha think?

    And it's not like we've had medical staff get infected while treating Ebola patients in this country right? Oh, that's right, we did.

    Smart people plan in advance and avoid mistakes. Average people make mistakes, and learn from them. And Obama? He's just fucking retarded.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Here's a link.

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/26/ebola-transport-military-patients-aircraft-phoenix-air/17669025/

      I wonder what they are going to do when half the medical staff at the hospital rushes out of the building when the plane arrives?

      Delete
    2. Obama will do what he has always done in the past.

      1. Act totally surprised.
      2. Say he is going to get the bottom of this.
      3. Say he will hold people accountable.
      4. No one will be fired.
      5. And do absolutely nothing.

      Delete
    3. And what do you propose when the patient is Sgt. Wilbur Jones, of Corn City Iowa?
      Of COURSE they're coming up with the ability to transport patients back. Some number of the next ones could be our own troops.

      Considering the utter futility and pointlessness of what they're doing, that's why they should be pulled out of there with all haste, before we have to start treating them, or watching them die on a futile gesture.

      We've had enough of that this century.

      Delete
    4. An exception should be made for American military personnel, no question about it.

      Delete
    5. If the purpose of the transport containers was to protect and move US miliary personnel, then President Sparklefarts should have just said so, and it would have ended any controversy.

      But nooooooooooooo. President Radical Agenda decides to go non-responsive and stonewall instead.

      So WTF is his plan?

      This article might give you some kind of a related clue:

      http://nypost.com/2014/10/26/obamas-plans-for-a-secret-radical-agenda-after-the-elections/

      If Obama's plans are so good, why does he have to hide them from everyone?

      Delete
    6. Per FNC; http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/28/lawmaker-claims-plans-may-be-in-pipeline-to-bring-non-citizens-to-us-for-ebola/

      "Lawmaker claims plans may be in pipeline to bring non-citizens to US for Ebola treatment"

      I am at a loss as to what possible reason there could be for doing this. We cannot stop this disease by transporting individuals from Africa to here. At best we would be able to treat some limited number of people, greatly increasing the risk to ourselves. This would also further insentivize those people in impacted countries who are able to get here on their own seeking treatment.

      Obviously I would like to see as many people as possible get treatment, but protection and security of our people has to take priority! This makes no sense whatsoever!

      One has to assume that the only possible motive for this decision is that bringing this disease to our shores is in reality the end goal.

      Which is beyond troubling. Indeed I cannot imagine the depths of the evil and irresponsibility required to plot such a course of action. But what other conclusion can possibly be drawn?

      And big government is firmly in control of this bus, and hitting the gas to go deeper and deeper. We are in deep doo doo.

      Delete
  9. Isn't it the ultimate hipocrisy that doctors who go to Africa to proactively fight ebola, don't proactively fight ebola thru quarantine when they return to the US?

    ReplyDelete