The first patient brought into this country infected 2 people under the best conditions the CDC and our medical field could provide. They couldn't handle one patient without infecting others. So much for how hard it is to spread this disease.
No, the best conditions were in the hospitals that are familiar with treating Ebola patients, and in those institutions, there have been no infected healthcare workers. Letting that hospital treat Duncan was a mistake. We've solved that problem. All future patients will go to one of very few sites with proper training, gear, equipped to handle this disease.
What if the next infected person decides to ride the subway for several days and go to a ball game, a movie, and so on. None of these people will have any protective gear that come into contact with this person. What if this infected person does vomit all over a bunch of people in a subway car or the movie theater. People will panic and run in every direction spreading this disease everywhere. We could easily have hundreds of people needing to be isolated regardless of how many actually contract the disease.
You're creating a false choice - quarantine or nothing. If we can quarantine them, we can track them, call them twice a day, etc. And someone sick enough to vomit everywhere isn't going to go to a ballgame. These are healthcare workers we're talking about - they've seen the disease kill people. They know the symptoms and the risks, and risked their lives to stop the spread. You're assuming these same people will, when at home in the U.S., behave like total idiots and put people at risk for getting the disease they just risked their lives to stop.
That is if we could find them all. All you need is one person to contract it who does not watch the news or trust the authorities to start spreading this disease. A drug dealer or gang banger gets infected and this disease could be spread easily to hundreds of people before he is caught and stopped.
Interesting choice of hypothetical persons getting infected - gang bangers? WTF does that come from - but in Africa, with massive poverty, no real healthcare infrastructure, terrible conditions, etc. it spreads more like 1-2 than 1-300.
In Texas the CDC and our medical field proved they could not handle a single patient without spreading this disease. FACT.
They've handled 8 without spreading the disease - FACT. One hospital with untrained workers made massive mistakes - many of them. We've solved that problem, and will send future patients to specialized facilities that CAN handle Ebola.
People returning have proven they will not follow self quarantine and will put peoples lives at risk in this country. FACT.
NOT fact. They self monitored, checked themselves into treatment, and have infected no one. That is fact.
This poor lady quarantined in a tent proves how unprepared we are for a possible outbreak in this country. FACT.
Why? Because you say so? Please explain.
The only good news is by either luck or the hand of God more people haven't been infected.
That and science tells us the disease is hard to spread, normally only by contact with blood, feces, etc.
What is really sad is all that needs to be done to protect the American people is to quarantine these people coming back for a couple of weeks before allowing them to return to this country.
Another good plan is to avoid panic and trust in the science. Worldwide, outside of Africa, there have been 18 people treated for Ebola. 18. In this country 9. Of those 9, 7 have recovered, 1 died, one is in treatment. Not one person other than a healthcare worker has been infected, and the two that have, treated and recovered. We're having a freakout about something FAR in excess of the actual risk to us.
