<p>Mark Shield was on NPR just now. He wasn’t impressed with the appointment.</p>
<p>So with all this hysteria – can someone confirm how many people in the US are currently diagnosed with ebola? It seems to be just ONE, right? Everyone else is suspected of maybe having it or having had contact with someone who may have had contact, correct?</p>
<p>Can anyone actually quantify for me this whole thing? Because if after all this time we’ve had ONE person actually infected (the hospitalized nurse), and ONE person maybe-infected (the nurse who flew to Ohio)… it’s not much of an OUTBREAK, is it? </p>
<p>Didn’t someone say that Gergen WAS impressed and Shields isn’t? Hmmmm . . .</p>
<p>2 nurses infected from Duncan and still 1-2 people in treatment her were infected in Africa I think</p>
<p>There are two infected nurses at the moment.</p>
<p>Now posting this for the third time. David Gergen (not exactly a hard-core liberal) likes Klain for this job.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/17/politics/ebola-czar-ron-klain/index.html”>http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/17/politics/ebola-czar-ron-klain/index.html</a></p>
<p>It’s also important to have someone who can communicate effectively to the public. How is this guy at that?</p>
<p>So all this is about… TWO infected people (since Duncan.) </p>
<p>TWO. </p>
<p>Hmmm. </p>
<p>There was a town hall meeting in Little Liberia tonight. Representatives from relevant local agencies, elected officials from both parties, and relevant members of the private sector were present to provide information and support, as well as answer specific questions and to clarify the positions outlined by the DOE. Very large turnout. I think it went well.</p>
<p>“So all this is about… TWO infected people (since Duncan.)”</p>
<p>Katliamom, here is an interactive graph that was in the NYT today. It shows all ebola cases outside of West Africa. I believe 17 in total. 13 of those were doctors/missionary’s/aid workers,and the journalist for NBC all of whom contracted Ebola while working in West Africa. One was a nurse caring for a missionary in Spain. 2 are the nurses who cared for Duncan - the only West African who traveled from Liberia to the US carrying Ebola. </p>
<p>So all the talk of banning travel, quarantining people, schools closings, etc., etc., etc., is because one person traveled from the hot zone who had the virus. One. </p>
<p>zm, What did they talk about mostly?</p>
<p>They are also checking a few others but there have been no other CONFIRMED cases of ebola in the US.</p>
<p>“o all the talk of banning travel, quarantining people, schools closings, etc., etc., etc., is because one person traveled from the hot zone who had the virus. One.”
No it isn’t. It is because the rate of infection in the hot zones is expected to rise so dramatically in the coming weeks and months. It is about discussing the best way to prevent a wider outbreak. It is about looking at the interconnected world and deciding best now to proceed in previously uncharted territory. Prudence and discussion are good things. There has been remarkably little hysteria. In fact, I think much of the “hysteria” lives in the imaginations of people who need to think themselves superior. Being a person who uses public transportation daily, I am always freaked out to see puking on the boat, bus or train, I mean, it happens every year like clockwork, but at other times – any reasonable person would be disturbed by that or by having someone drop dead on the plane they were flying on, Ebola or not.</p>
<p>Igloo, the meeting provided information about symptoms, transmission, incubation, as well as resources for anyone who is concerned for their health or that of a loved one. Since it is an Immigrant community, it was good to actually introduce people to the departments and professionals available. All in all, I think very positive.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@zoosermom, in my state they have put a teacher on 21-day leave because she flew to Dallas, attended a conference, and flew home. Parents whose kids are in the same DISTRICT, not the same school, are complaining about not having been informed.</p>
<p>I think that qualifies as hysteria. Yup, I <em>do</em> feel superior to those people.</p>
<p>I will give you that consolation. In my mind, I distinguish actual people from elected/appointed officials. I have respect for and faith in the former and zero expectations for the latter. I would also say that what can be attributed to incompetence or corruption shouldn’t be mistaken for hysteria.</p>
<p>I am in Dallas now with the family. It doesn’t look like Ebola has impacted the weekend. The restaurant is packed and so are the others in the neighborhood. Oh by the way, no one in the Duncan family has been infected.</p>
<p>Yes, this national emergency is over 3 infected people so far for a virus that infect those in very high density environments. Right now, I believe that the people who should really be worried are the healthcare workers. </p>
<p>Oh and the Pentagon scare was a false alarm, as was the passenger who died on the plane en route to NYC. So far only the two nurses and Duncan as recent ebola cases. I am glad that none of the Duncan family are infected–it does make it seem that transmission in the early stages of ebola is not a trivial matter, despite conflicting info, some of which says it is most infectious then. It makes more logical sense that it would be more infectious at the end, where the patient is shedding copious amounts of bodily fluids with high viral load, which is what some reports indicate as well.</p>
<p>Glad Dallas restaurants are busy and “business as usual.” Hope the rest of the US goes back to that frame of mind and I hope that the rest of the Dallas healthcare workers and other healthcare providers remain healthy!</p>
<p>When you consider just how many mistakes were apparently made in Duncan’s treatment - how many medical personnel he came in contact with, how many friends/relatives he came in contact with, those haz mat materials piled up in the hospitals, the nurses apparently inadequately trained, skin exposed – when you consider all of that and see that we have all of TWO infected people – all that really underscores that ebola really ISN’T THAT EASY TO “CATCH” </p>
<p>
Which turned into three. The additional were medical professionals, not barmaids. Not to mention the scramble to monitor everyone who cared for him but also those they contacted. Not to mention the costs of that one that turned into three, either.</p>
<p>Emily:</p>
<p>You’ve posted repeatedly that a travel ban would logically include Texas, since there’s been three confirmed cases in that city. Why? </p>
<p>HIMom, I am sure people in HI are also nervous since the economy is so dependent on tourism. I promise that I will continue to support the economy of your beautiful state (did this after the 9/11, during SARS and swine flu)! </p>