Ebola Day 7 And CDC Disinformation
Editorial Cartoon by John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune John Darkow on Facebook |
President Obama announced that there would be additional screenings for passengers traveling to the United States. But the screening process clearly needs revamping.
Elizabeth Cohen, a medical reporter for CNN, just returned from Liberia. She was "shocked" and "horrified" by how lax the screening was at the airport. After identifying herself as a journalist who was covering the Ebola outbreak, the screening agent simply told her, "You need to watch yourself for signs of Ebola." But he couldn't identify those signs for her.
Keep in mind that screening is not foolproof. It will only detect the people who are showing obvious symptoms. It will not keep out people like Thomas Duncan, who was infected, but showed no symptoms while he was traveling.
Meanwhile, Europe is now grappling with its first case of Ebola. A nurse in Spain, who was treating Ebola victims from Sierra Leone, has become infected. It is not clear how she got the disease, but concerns are being raised about the protective suits used at the Madrid hospital where she worked. Thirty people are being monitored for possible exposure.
One European health official warned, "Such imported cases and similar events as have happened in Spain will happen also in the future, most likely. It is quite unavoidable. . .that such incidents will happen in the future because of the extensive travel both from Europe to the affected countries and the other way around."
That raises the obvious question: Why continue to permit such extensive travel?
CDC: Centers For Disinformation Control - In a recent column entitled "The Case for Panic," Matthew Continetti contrasts a number of recent high-profile government failures against Washington's repeated assurances that all is well. He writes, "It is not Ebola I am afraid of. It is our government's ability to deal with Ebola."
Continetti is on to something. Let me just briefly summarize what we've been told.
Ebola is not easy to contract. (That is probably an accurate statement now, but viruses mutate.)
To become infected, you must have physical contact with an Ebola victim. (What kind of physical contact? Intimate or incidental?)
An Ebola victim is not contagious until he shows symptoms. This is why airport screeners are monitoring for fevers. (We know that in some cases victims without fevers are symptomatic.)
You don't need to worry if you are in a crowded place like a plane, elevator or large public gathering. (Really?)
With those assertions in mind, take two minutes to watch this exchange between CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
Now we're learning that "direct contact" means coming within three feet of someone. Feeling any better?
Here's more disinformation from the CDC Director. On his blog yesterday, Dr. Frieden wrote:
What are we doing with infected individuals? We are using quarantines and isolation. That's how you stop epidemics from spreading.
As for increasing people's distrust of government, nearly 60% of Americans support a temporary travel ban. Nothing increases distrust of government more than when government bureaucrats ignore common sense and the people they supposedly serve!
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
Tags: Ebola, America, Day 7, CDC disinformation, Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, John Darkow, editorial cartoon To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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