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Again, tell me why 3 million West Africans aren't dead by now if Ebola can be spread through the air like the flu or a cold can? You do realize that's the only logical inference, don't you?
So what do you think the death toll will be in those countries a year from now ?
Like you I had assumed Duncan knew of the woman's illness due to charges made by the Liberian government. After reading some of the comments to the article you attached I started to question myself, for I hadn't previously known Ms. Williams had been pregnant.
Having been fairly judgmental about Duncan's "irresponsibility," I spent a few minutes searching and came across this article. The sadness, the tragedy of what is happening in Liberia is stunning. I can't quite bring myself to read it more carefully but instead need to stop.
I *believe* it says the Williams family misled Duncan into thinking she had malaria but that, as they made the rounds of clinics that day, Ms. Williams was "diagnosed" (obviously just a medical assessment for no time for testing) as having had ebola and they brought her home to die. The Williams family, however, continued (perhaps understandably) to deny it. And so ebola found its way onto that plane.
Let me know if I'm reading it incorrectly. Too much for me, right now.
I think we tend to forget how many illnesses are just a regular part of life in that part of the world. He very well could have just thought it was Malaria, and when the doctor in Dallas told him it was just a flu he was probably relieved. You would think he would mention again that he was from Liberia, but that's just thinking like a person growing up in a first world country where the usual illnesses are respiratory infections or flu or allergies, and not all the tropical diseases he's used to.
I think we tend to forget how many illnesses are just a regular part of life in that part of the world. He very well could have just thought it was Malaria, and when the doctor in Dallas told him it was just a flu he was probably relieved. You would think he would mention again that he was from Liberia, but that's just thinking like a person growing up in a first world country where the usual illnesses are respiratory infections or flu or allergies, and not all the tropical diseases he's used to.
He did tell the hospital that he was from Liberia. For whatever reason, the doctor missed that information in his chart and the doctor himself didn't ask him if he recently traveled from a foreign country.
I think we tend to forget how many illnesses are just a regular part of life in that part of the world. He very well could have just thought it was Malaria, and when the doctor in Dallas told him it was just a flu he was probably relieved. You would think he would mention again that he was from Liberia, but that's just thinking like a person growing up in a first world country where the usual illnesses are respiratory infections or flu or allergies, and not all the tropical diseases he's used to.
The person who went with him to the ER reportedly told them TWICE that he had come from Liberia. He, himself, was sick so maybe he couldn't keep explaining but whoever took him to the ER did tell them.
The nurse made a note of it but that information was lost (so they say) before the doctor could see it.
Somewhere either on this thread or another thread, someone said he already had the plane ticket. He didn't buy the ticket after the people died. He was planning on coming here anyway.
Saw a guy at a store take a handful of dollars and playfully patted his kid's head with it several times. Ordinarily, I would just think that was unsanitary, but now with all that is happening, I think it's both unsafe and unhealthy to do. Kid will touch his hair and put his hand in his mouth probably or he will go home and go to sleep later, rolling his head on his pillow and then putting his mouth on the fabric.
Yeah, people will have to rethink everything they do, especially the little things when they don't think about it.
I agree and as has been said numerous times in these posts is that the CDC itself can't seem to stay on point when it comes to being consistent on this particular topic.
Also, Marcus Aurelius, it would be far more respectful to not assume that we are all Chicken Little running around bemoaning the fact that the sky is falling when indeed it very well could be; that remains to be seen.
Did you even read the article, or just the headline? These were projected models intentionally not taking into account current and planned interventions. The purpose of such models is to analyze the effectiveness of strategy and treatment. This is not information that should be disseminated willy-nilly by the rabid media as it just riles people up and is misinterpreted.
This is what has puzzled me about the narrative regarding Mr Duncan intentionally lying to the hospital and coming here solely to get treatment - what earthly good does it do him to go to the ER the first time and and not tell them he likely has Ebola? Not really in his best interest, is it?
I don't have a link to the Dallas hospital press release issued that INITIALLY attributed the confusion over the travel history to a computer glitch. But when floating around, it also showed the answers Duncan provided to a series of questions. ONE was whether the patient had been exposed to anyone who was ILL. Not Ebola but ILL. Presumably, if Duncan had answered YES (he said, no) a second look might have occurred during that first visit. Now, there you get into incubation periods and so on. That said, given what he had experienced with his neighbor during that search for an Ebola bed before departing Monrovia -- answering NO was foolhardy.
(Even if Ms. William's family members tried to hide from him, and presumably the taxi driver, WHY after leaving the clinic they were going from hospital to hospital, I'm pretty sure that Ebola clinics are clearly identified and so surely they must have guessed.)
Who knows. Probably he was still desperately hoping that his illness was minor and with his future wife there beside him at that first hospital visit didn't want her to question his judgment in coming given the situation.
For, feeling fine he probably got on the plane without processing "Ebola," he exposed his family without processing "Ebola," and ill as he was at the apartment towards the end he also seems to have never mentioned the word "Ebola." (That was the guess of his step daughter-in-law when she saw the bloodshot eyes.)
If this were a court of law, I could certainly see a jury saying he SHOULD have known given that taxi ride followed by the death of his neighbor. If I were a psychologist, I could explain the self-deception. But this is not a court of law and I'm not a psychologist !!!
Last edited by EveryLady; 10-04-2014 at 09:42 PM..
Yes, I just went back to read through to the end this time. There is seeming confusion, but maybe not:
This certainly suggests the first clinic suspected Ebola … but then ...
Is this the first clinic? Perhaps they initially diagnosed malaria but then when Ms. Williams "deteriorated sharply" decided differently and so sent her on to an ultimately unsuccessful search for an Ebola bed.
Clearly, though, the family continued to maintain to the community their daughter had malaria - which is what so angers their neighbors and understandably so. The community did not find out it she had had ebola until the two family members died.
But Duncan was the only non-family member to accompany her in the taxi that day. Did HE not grasp why the first clinic referred them to an Ebola treatment center? Again, perhaps denial.
The form released by the Dallas hospital said Duncan denied having been around anyone who was ill, which obviously would include malaria. Perhaps he didn't grasp the implications of an incubation period.
Or perhaps the fear is just too great ...
Considering how the children are shunned now and no one will touch them, one can understand his fear of disclosing that he helped someone with Ebola. If he felt like he did not have Ebola, he surely didn't want to have the stigma.
I'm perplexed, who started this whole idea that slavery is the reason the US won't restrict travel to/from African countries that have outbreak of Ebola?
I'm not saying everyone thinks that, but I've read several posts in other forums and saw an Anderson Cooper interview with a man guy who wrote a book on Ebola who said in response to travel restrictions that we should not turn our backs on Liberia because it was a country established because of American slavery and we had a responsibility to that country. I don't think anyone has said we should turn our backs on Liberia or Sierra Leone or Guinea (we never hear about them anymore). Nigeria seems to be able to deal with it on their own. I don't see how restricting travel from West African countries would restrict people from flying in to give care and education about the disease. And WHO and the United Nations should be doing more as well.
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