Quote:
Originally Posted by cologal
I really hope that this outbreak never reaches the level of that outbreak. Unfortunately we are NOT in control of the door.... We used to have US Public Health Service Hospitals with quarantine stations. I know this because I worked at one on Staten Island. The bad news they were all closed...by the same President who ignored that last virus.
I hope also that your blog information is incorrect....according to what I have heard the US Hospitals are only equipped to handle 9 patients, I think there are 5,000 patients in West Africa now.
I forgot.... at least 2 patients have already been transported to the US for treatment and all have so far survived. I think one doctor and a reporter.
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CDC is reportedly monitoring about 700 people as a result of the 2nd nurse’s travel to Cleveland. As I think about it, that number is likely low because it does not include people she may have passed by in the airport (sneeze?) and so forth. As I understand it, these 700 people are not quarantined but simply told to monitor while 21 days pass. But, they can interact with people. Should one of the 700 come down with Ebola, then presumably another network of many people would have to be tracked down and added to the list.
Thus, if we have say 10 infected people fly in from West Africa over the next month or so, and who do not show symptoms at the airport and thus let into the US (under current policy), I guess that means maybe 7,000 more people to monitor? Or maybe just 5,000? No one knows, except to say it would be a big number.
Thus, with only a few cases, the number of people needing to be monitored goes exponential and quickly outstrips our ability to do it. That’s why it needs to be prevented by restricting entry, not reacted to after a case is diagnosed.