It's as if they're more concerned about public panic than eradicating the spread of the virus

[apples and oranges]

All of the CDC's efforts should be on preventing clusterfucks like what is gradually unfolding before our eyes. Right now we have an incompetant/negligent hospital treating two nurses. Like the CDC, they're more concerned about public perception than they are about stopping ebola in it's tracks.

Furthermore, it's not clear if they've even fixed the problems that caused those nurses to get sick, but now they're treating additional Ebola patients. When Nina Pham became sick, the other 76 workers should have immediately been placed in quarantine and not allowed to fly all over the country.

Here's what needs to happen NOW:

Immediate isolation of EVERYONE who treated Duncan and EVERYONE in contact with the infected nurses.

Moving both nurses from Texas Presbyterian to a competent hospital with the right tools and equipment.

[hlthe2b]

1. Maybe because public panic (and misinformation campaigns) CAN & DO seriously impact efforts to

control and prevent spread... Hmm, ya think?

[840high]

4. I prefer they tell

us the truth.

[apples and oranges]

6. Ironically, their actions will be what ultimately cause the panic

because at a certain point, they'll lose all credibility. I hear it in the voices of the journalists: Why was Amber allowed to fly? Prior to this, none of my family or friends were particularly worried about flying but now they will be. It didn't have to get to this point.

I thought that the CDC was trying to calm us down while they worried behind the scenes, but now I'm realizing that they believed their own hype. They weren't worried at all, and that's why several hundred additional people now have to be monitored.

[PAProgressive28]

2. The same could be said about DU

Though in that case people WANT public panic. It's cool like one of those movies or something

[TwilightGardener]

3. Agreed. They're just repeating/compounding their mistakes, and the danger isn't panic.

The danger is the spread of the disease. What constitutes "panic" anyway? Nobody is burning down anyone's house or running anyone out of town on a rail. We're pretty rational people. I don't see anyone acting crazy. Would I want to visit Dallas right now? Fuck no, but I didn't want to anyway.

[840high]

5. ...^ that

[liberal_at_heart]

7. My husband had to go to Texas for his dad's funeral and to settle his estate.

He was there the same time that Duncan was there, and he has not come home with ebola. He was even staying with his cousin whose husband is an EMT. I was never worried for a second. I do feel for the nurses though. It does seem like this has taken the hospitals by complete surprise.

[TwilightGardener]

12. I imagine anyone in or back from TX probably feels a little paranoid now when they come

down with the usual foodborne illness, norovirus, flu...sorry about your father in law, BTW.

[liberal_at_heart]

16. Thank you. My son has a cold, actually has had two colds since the whole enterovirus has

hit school children. I just do what I usually do, give him zinc, vitamin C, and a decongestant. And my husband doesn't watch tv so he never gave the ebola case a second thought. He was too busy thinking about how he is going to pay for his father's mortgage until he can get the property sold. We're just not jumpy people. We deal with what is in front of us. Thank you for your condolences.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. I remember the 'pretty rational' harassing Ryan White. I remember lots of things.

Many on DU seem to have slept through the 80's and 90's.

[hedgehog]

15. I asked that question myself a week ago, and never got any clear answers.

Panic? Like in 1918? I expect most people will just go about their business because people are living pay check to paycheck and have to show up for work.

[ZombieHorde]

8. More people will die from hunger today

than from Ebola since the beginning of the West African outbreak.

If Ebola is worth freaking out over, then shouldn't we be much more concerned about world hunger? Ebola isn't even close to being as bad as hunger.

[liberal_at_heart]

9. [phone]

[cali]

10. not a good comparison

and ebola is directly impacting hunger in West Africa, making it much worse.

- The threat of hunger is tracking Ebola across affected West African nations as the disease kills farmers and their families, drives workers from the fields and creates food shortages.

In the worst-hit states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Ebola is ravaging their food-producing 'breadbasket' regions, preventing planting and harvesting, and disrupting supply routes and markets.

<snip>

http://news.yahoo.com/now-hunger-threat-shadows-ebola-west-africa-152852968.html

I don't understand the minimizing of this threat- and yes, it's a huge threat. Not to us here at the moment, but in Africa. Do you understand that the disease is growing exponentially and that the possibility of a million cases by January is more likely than not now?

[ZombieHorde]

13. I want people to know the intensity of hunger in the world.

I have been comparing world hunger to Ebola and ISIS in various threads with the hope people will become more concerned about the 20,000+ hunger deaths each day. I want people to think, "wow, hunger is currently more dangerous than Ebola and ISIS combined."


I have not seen the article you posted, but I really like it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

[seveneyes]

11. Shelter in place

If the people in the hot zones would do the same then this thing would burn itself out.

[joshcryer]

17. Turn off the TV.

The CDC is doing its job.