<p>OMG!!</p>
<p>“A Southern California community college evacuated part of its campus after a student told an instructor about a family member who had recently traveled to the Midwest and was hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href=“Southwestern College Student Recants Story After Evacuation – NBC 7 San Diego”>Southwestern College Student Recants Story After Evacuation – NBC 7 San Diego; </p>
<p>And this does not qualify as “hysteria”???</p>
<p>Where are the rational folks? I’m happy our D will be flying home to spend 2 months with us in the near future. Hopefully by the time she has to fly back to LA in January, things will be more rational again. The CC’s actions are in no way rational. With flu season, this will just make things more muddled. </p>
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<p>Please read my post, as I said nothing about productivity of the company. In fact, a company can even experience growth and higher productivity in such a period, but that is not the problems I mentioned.</p>
<p>A drop in the stock price means that people who live off investment portfolios are harmed in two major ways:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If they have to sell stock to say, pay for the kid’s tuition or grad school, they have to sell more because each unit delivers less upside capital gain. That is a direct loss to the holder.</p></li>
<li><p>For retirees, who are living partly off of dividends get a pay cut. This is because when the stock price is hurt, a company often delays or reduces dividends to ensure liquidity in its accounts because the lower market cap means less borrowing power and the need to have more cash on hand. And depending on the types of stocks held, retirees could get a huge pay cut. In major devaluations, dividends get cancelled altogether in certain years, meaning the retirees get nothing from that particular holding.</p></li>
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<p>In contrast, it is great for rich people because they get to snap up the stock at a devalued price. It is the middle case who gets hit in these scenarios. </p>
<p>This is the sneaky problem that Dallas area companies have to watch out for, as the stock price could do a long slow drop which is very hard to come back from. The longer the infections exist in the area, then harder to come back from it.</p>
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<p>I give you that one. I would say that qualifies. But nothing on this thread does though, in my view. </p>
<p>However, a few cases like this is not a reason to call most cautious action hysteria. There was a point on the thread where no distinctions were being taken and if people did not conform to CDC beliefs and edicts, then they were called as panicking, which is just false.</p>
<p>IMO this “hysteria” makes matters worse as people spend time trying to reassure that there’s nothing to worry about in these cases and that message gets garbled and bogged down with the situations that we actually should worry about. The media outlets don’t help as “Should you be worried? Find out at 11:00” gets eyes on the screen. Personally, from a containment standpoint, I worry about people who we know have been exposed traveling around and mixing with the general public until the incubation period is over. I also worry that in trying to tamp down hysteria, officials send a too casual message about the situations surrounding those who really have been exposed. All this “my aunt went to the midwest and is now sick to her stomach” stuff becomes more noise to sift through. Yes . . . there are things that bear worrying about but this isn’t one of them.</p>
<p>An email message from a hotel chain offering discounts up to 35% on stays in Dallas and Atlanta - nice! </p>
<p>From the Yale Ebola thread:</p>
<p>Patient tested negative for Ebola. </p>
<p><a href=“CDC Confirms Negative Ebola Results for Yale Student – NBC Connecticut”>CDC Confirms Negative Ebola Results for Yale Student – NBC Connecticut;
<p>Good news–Yale male PhD student tested negative for ebola. They have no plans for retesting and are satisfied that he doesn’t have ebola. Yale also took the opportunity to remind their community to get their FLU shots, which is the much more common ailment in the US and worldwide, indicating that it’s available on campus, etc.</p>
<p>Whew, that’s good news!</p>
<p>^^ As expected. That was not a case of hysteria, that was rational thinking. The San Diego case… no so smart. </p>
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<p>They are all over the place. </p>
<p>The airports are not empty, are they? No. The train stations are not empty, are they? No. Neither are the bus stations or sports stadiums empty. And there are no traffic jams out of Dallas or Texas. Seems like a lot of rational people around to me. </p>
<p>Some parents and people are being extra cautious if they or family members where around an infected person who traveled, but that is normal actions in a state of uncertainty.</p>
<p>“That was not a case of hysteria, that was rational thinking.”</p>
<p>Indeed. I am curious to know what protocols Yale New Haven followed in comparison to what they were doing in Dallas. </p>
<p>For those interested here is a link to a wonderfully written diary entry by Paul Farmer in the London Review of Books ( <a href=“Paul Farmer - Wikipedia”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Farmer</a> ) describing what is going on in Africa and his thoughts on the situation. <a href=“http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n20/paul-farmer/diary”>http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n20/paul-farmer/diary</a></p>
<p>On the stock market, my H likes to watch Mad Money & Jim Cramer is usually always bullish. But the other day Cramer did say the market was reacting to Ebola fears.</p>
<p>One thing Yale did was limit the number of healthcare workers attending and in contact with the patient–two MDs and two nurses with rotating shifts instead of 76+ at Dallas. When the number of staff is reduced, it reduces the number who will have to be quarantined.</p>
<p>^^^Although didn’t the letter state that the students never came into any contact whatsoever with any ebola patients?</p>
<p>I was impressed with the way the Yale letter was worded. Calm, no sensationalist language, compassionate, etc. </p>
<p>The report looks good for the Yale student at this point. Also, a measured and reassuring statement from CT Gov.
<a href=“http://blog.ctnews.com/newsdesk/2014/10/16/malloy-orders-hospitals-to-prepare-for-ebola/”>http://blog.ctnews.com/newsdesk/2014/10/16/malloy-orders-hospitals-to-prepare-for-ebola/</a></p>
<p>Yes, the Yale language was very well crafted and showed concern, reassurance and compassion as well as providing important safety information that the readers could take action upon–getting their flu shots now. I hope other communities use similar letters if they need to inform people rather than spreading confusion and possibly creating panic and hysteria.</p>
<p>You all realize that we’re going to be studied by future sociology students. Not the disease, but The Great Panic of '14. Smile! :D</p>