Ebola in Our Midsts Part 2 (generation, stereotype, Brown, borders)
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Texas Pres was simply the first, the guinea pig if you will. If Duncan had stumbled into any other hospital and wasn't forthcoming about his travels/Ebola exposure, a similar thing would have happened.
That is rank speculation. I tend to think there is something to it, but we can never know. In any case, Texas will serve as an example of what not to do as so often happens. Oh, and maybe you missed it: he was forthcoming about his travels, but being a poor, uninsured, black man in Texas, he was put in a back room while "administration" debated about what to do with him.
As previously posted, vomiting woman does not have Ebola. She has admitted to lying about recent travel to West Africa. She has not recently traveled anywhere.
Reportedly, she works for Total Spectrum, a DC lobbying firm.
See - this is one of the things that irritates and worries me about Ebola in the US.
1. Weird people will embellish, overreact, or become hysterical - and because of "an abundance of caution," our resources will be tied up unnecessarily. For instance, due to "an abundance of caution," two schools in Texas closed down because two students had been on the same flight as Nurse Vinson. This small blip on the screen involved thousands of students and their parents - people having to take off work (lost productivity), parents and kids being unnecessarily frightened, etc.
2. This is exactly the sort of thing that negatively impacts the stock market - real people lose real money and real retirement plans are altered, impacting real lives. Over illogical fears.
3. Speaking of illogical fears, my husband and I went to get our flu shots yesterday (no - the flu is real but bear with me!) - and we were talking about ebola with the pharmacist, who said people have been driving them CRAZY with paranoia. Calls about Ebola, patients picking up meds and insisting that they think they have Ebola, asking if we should all be wearing masks and gloves, that sort of thing.
Which leads me to the next thing that's irritating and nerve wracking about Ebola - stupid people. Take the woman at the Pentagon - she hadn't traveled to Africa, so why did she lie? FOR ATTENTION apparently. And there are plenty of weirdos like her out there. Then throw in the hypochondriacs. And then just the IDIOTS - the pharmacist we were talking with is African American - born and raised here. She had had customers coming in and actually asking her if she was worried, because they had heard that African Americans were more vulnerable to the virus. Not just one person - SEVERAL people.
4. Add a little very real flu or a stomach virus or food poisoning to the mix (real symptoms, just not Ebola) and a pinch of "an abundance of caution," and you have TONS of ridiculousness and fear and inconvenience to the mix.
Which is exactly why my husband and I were getting our flu shots - we always do, but this year our reasons went beyond simply not getting the flu. We don't want to get the flu and have to actually go to the doctor with it - because I have a feeling that our medical facilities are going to be really stretched past their limits this year, between the usual flu, the enterovirus, and the Ebola scare.
Aside note - the other day when we went out to lunch, we saw three people wearing medical masks. Now - granted, they may all have some sort of condition that involves a compromised immune system, but that's the first time in my life, including during scary flu seasons, that I've seen three people out in public in the space of an hour wearing medical masks.
5. Then there's actually Ebola. The real stuff. Though I think the public is overreacting in some ways to the over the top media coverage - I can't really blame the media or the public for being alarmed by this terrible disease which has made it's way to this country after devastating several countries already. Throw in the obvious and blatant incompetence of the CDC, the Three Stooges behavior at the hospital, and the political maneuvering and posturing of our government when something like Ebola should NOT EVER be politicized (very low behavior in my opinion - from any party), and well...it's just ugly.
See - this is one of the things that irritates and worries me about Ebola in the US.
1. Weird people will embellish, overreact, or become hysterical - and because of "an abundance of caution," our resources will be tied up unnecessarily. For instance, due to "an abundance of caution," two schools in Texas closed down because two students had been on the same flight as Nurse Vinson. This small blip on the screen involved thousands of students and their parents - people having to take off work (lost productivity), parents and kids being unnecessarily frightened, etc.
2. This is exactly the sort of thing that negatively impacts the stock market - real people lose real money and real retirement plans are altered, impacting real lives. Over illogical fears.
3. Speaking of illogical fears, my husband and I went to get our flu shots yesterday (no - the flu is real but bear with me!) - and we were talking about ebola with the pharmacist, who said people have been driving them CRAZY with paranoia. Calls about Ebola, patients picking up meds and insisting that they think they have Ebola, asking if we should all be wearing masks and gloves, that sort of thing.
Which leads me to the next thing that's irritating and nerve wracking about Ebola - stupid people. Take the woman at the Pentagon - she hadn't traveled to Africa, so why did she lie? FOR ATTENTION apparently. And there are plenty of weirdos like her out there. Then throw in the hypochondriacs. And then just the IDIOTS - the pharmacist we were talking with is African American - born and raised here. She had had customers coming in and actually asking her if she was worried, because they had heard that African Americans were more vulnerable to the virus. Not just one person - SEVERAL people.
4. Add a little very real flu or a stomach virus or food poisoning to the mix (real symptoms, just not Ebola) and a pinch of "an abundance of caution," and you have TONS of ridiculousness and fear and inconvenience to the mix.
Which is exactly why my husband and I were getting our flu shots - we always do, but this year our reasons went beyond simply not getting the flu. We don't want to get the flu and have to actually go to the doctor with it - because I have a feeling that our medical facilities are going to be really stretched past their limits this year, between the usual flu, the enterovirus, and the Ebola scare.
Aside note - the other day when we went out to lunch, we saw three people wearing medical masks. Now - granted, they may all have some sort of condition that involves a compromised immune system, but that's the first time in my life, including during scary flu seasons, that I've seen three people out in public in the space of an hour wearing medical masks.
5. Then there's actually Ebola. The real stuff. Though I think the public is overreacting in some ways to the over the top media coverage - I can't really blame the media or the public for being alarmed by this terrible disease which has made it's way to this country after devastating several countries already. Throw in the obvious and blatant incompetence of the CDC, the Three Stooges behavior at the hospital, and the political maneuvering and posturing of our government when something like Ebola should NOT EVER be politicized (very low behavior in my opinion - from any party), and well...it's just ugly.
I find myself in agreement with you. The panic is completely unnecessary and only uses up resources. On your fifth point, I also agree. We should do the right thing especially considering the incompetence we've seen thus far in dealing with Ebola. There's being cautious and treating the Ebola issue properly and then there's stupid people. Not a fan of stupid people in general.
That is rank speculation. I tend to think there is something to it, but we can never know. In any case, Texas will serve as an example of what not to do as so often happens. Oh, and maybe you missed it: he was forthcoming about his travels, but being a poor, uninsured, black man in Texas, he was put in a back room while "administration" debated about what to do with him.
BS he lied his way into the country, then and only then did he start alluding to his travel in Ebolaland. Had he stated I had been caring for Ebola victims and was in contact with those that died from ebola I might have Ebola, his now dead ass would have been taken care of immediately most likely.
what?? what in the hell would cause a grown woman to do this???
Because there are lots and lots of really stupid, weird people out there, and Ebola will really bring out the crazies.
In an earlier post, I mentioned my and my husband's trip to the pharmacy for our flu shots yesterday. The pharmacist is African American - by African American I mean native Texan whose distant ancestors came from somewhere in Africa - NOT a recent immigrant from Africa. She said that she's had SEVERAL customers ask her if she was worried about contracting Ebola - since African Americans are more susceptible to Ebola than other people.
I also saw THREE people wearing surgical masks out in public the other day. And my contractor - MY CONTRACTOR, a person who is well educated and reasonably intelligent - said she is cancelling her trip to the State Fair in Dallas because she's afraid she will be exposed to someone with Ebola. I mean, I understand thinking things through and taking reasonable precautions - for instance, I actually did order some surgical masks for my family IN CASE we have a flu or enterovirus epidemic, which are more possible scenarios than Ebola - but dang, we're not wearing them and we wouldn't unless there was a true epidemic - during which we certainly wouldn't be able to buy any for love or money, so I'm "more concerned than the average Joe" most likely. But I'm not crazy paranoid! I just like to be prepared for any situation if possible - I'm the sort of person who has 120 different spices JUST IN CASE I'm ever contemplating a recipe that calls for something out of the ordinary!
Nonsense! There has been a series on our local news over the past couple nights about preparedness in our area. Our county hospital has been prominently featured showing all the equipment and measures they would take to deal with an Ebola case all the way from patient encounter to isolation and treatment. They have plans and protocols. They have protective equipment and they know how to use it. They have waste disposal systems in place. This hospital is ready as are many, many others across the country. Texas screwed up, plain and simple and created a crisis where there did not have to be one.
Now, I will grant you that many hospitals are not prepared. Certainly, Texas Presby was not. But to generalize the disastrous handling of the case in Texas to the entire country is an insult to our health services industry and the hardworking people who have prepared for Ebola or other diseases that require a similar response.
You may find this article interesting. Apparently the problem is widespread - the rule, rather than the exception.
And by the way, our local news has been full of series over the past few nights about preparedness in our area. This is called Public Relations work. Also, of course we should expect that other hospitals have learned from the mistakes made at Texas Presbyterian - but the fact is that we do not have the resources nationwide to handle this disease.
Then throw in weird people - for instance, the nurse who gave my husband and me our flu shots yesterday. We asked her if weird people have been asking them about Ebola - and she immediately rolled her eyes and said, "Oh my gosh, we're being INUNDATED with questions!" I said, "So have you been able to calm anyone down?" and this NURSE actually said to us, "Well, I don't watch the news. I don't know anything about Ebola. I just tell them to calm down, it's going to be OK."
She is a nurse and she doesn't "know anything about Ebola???????"
Waste management or control might have been a better term. They have "room" where they would isolate wastes rather than let it pile up in the patient wards and hallways as was done in Texas.
Do you have a source that shows that this waste was allowed to pile up in the hallways and wards at Texas Presbyterian?
That is rank speculation. I tend to think there is something to it, but we can never know. In any case, Texas will serve as an example of what not to do as so often happens. Oh, and maybe you missed it: he was forthcoming about his travels, but being a poor, uninsured, black man in Texas, he was put in a back room while "administration" debated about what to do with him.
You mean "Texas Presbyterian Hospital," not the entire state of Texas, surely.
Just think of all the damage to people and the economy that has been caused by letting one sick Liberian into the US. The cost could go into the tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds of millions. Not to mention the suffering of those who caught it from him.
Priorities, priorities, it's all about your chosen priorities. "Give me your weak, your tired, your poor" were words your country actually lived by for generations of accepting people from all over the world. They were subject to a quarantine period on Ellis Island during tuberculosis threat years but you still accepted them.
Now you think nothing of condemning thousands of your best and brightest young men and women to die overseas through some military action or another with questionable motives and what that does to your economy and debt load, but instead, whine like a five dollar leaf blower over ONE guy entering your country with a communicable disease. You call yourselves a nation founded upon Christian principles at every possible opportunity; here's just another opportunity.
Quarantine centers perhaps, but possibly denying your own citizens rights of return if coming through a hot zone? C'mon get a grip!
You were silent when your media and government were feeding you bullcrap and suggesting military intervention over some hypothetical threat from ISIS in the mid-east while both entities were ignoring or downplaying the threat to those other brown people way over there in a country that neither shives-a-git over because it doesn't have any oil.
"The land of the free and home of the brave" people.......remember?
Because there are lots and lots of really stupid, weird people out there, and Ebola will really bring out the crazies.
In an earlier post, I mentioned my and my husband's trip to the pharmacy for our flu shots yesterday. The pharmacist is African American - by African American I mean native Texan whose distant ancestors came from somewhere in Africa - NOT a recent immigrant from Africa. She said that she's had SEVERAL customers ask her if she was worried about contracting Ebola - since African Americans are more susceptible to Ebola than other people.
I also saw THREE people wearing surgical masks out in public the other day. And my contractor - MY CONTRACTOR, a person who is well educated and reasonably intelligent - said she is cancelling her trip to the State Fair in Dallas because she's afraid she will be exposed to someone with Ebola. I mean, I understand thinking things through and taking reasonable precautions - for instance, I actually did order some surgical masks for my family IN CASE we have a flu or enterovirus epidemic, which are more possible scenarios than Ebola - but dang, we're not wearing them and we wouldn't unless there was a true epidemic - during which we certainly wouldn't be able to buy any for love or money, so I'm "more concerned than the average Joe" most likely. But I'm not crazy paranoid! I just like to be prepared for any situation if possible - I'm the sort of person who has 120 different spices JUST IN CASE I'm ever contemplating a recipe that calls for something out of the ordinary!
My very own personal doctor is from West Africa
I see him very month and will see him next week
he travels over to visit his family every few months
I will continue to see my doctor that I trust
I will not being warring a mask and gloves LOL
in Atlanta I also know several folks from West Africa I am not fearful to be around them
it is the loonies like our government that I fear!!! LOL
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