FYI
The top map show where on the continent of Africa the Ebola outbreak is located, and the lower map is from the Center for Disease Control showing the concentration of cases within that area.
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Established: 21 November 2004
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2 comments
“The land of the (what?) and the home of the (what?)” seems to have become the land of no freedom to decide what medical treatment to seek (incarceration w/o accusation, let alone trial and conviction, in a tent with no toilet) and a widespread absence of bravery in the face of a disease for which at least one treatment is already known and others are on the way (if not obstructed by deeply stupid governors for their own sorry political purposes).
I spent a goodly portion of my career providing computer support and instruction to already well-educated public health officials and trainees, including some elected officials bright enough to see the need, in the heartfelt hope that bullcrap like this could be avoided. If America ends up with an ebola epidemic (which I doubt seriously), it will be the fault of the Chris Christies and Paul LePages of the nation, not the nurses, doctors, public health researchers and other professionals. While deep knowledge of ebola will never kill us all, profound ignorance may.
Actually, having no shower available after being crammed in airplanes all day would have been the trip wire for me. The camping toilet might not have been bad if there was some hot water to wash your hands.
How was Ms Hickox, a health care professional, supposed to keep clean without hot water? She just came back from an area where being obsessed with personal sanitation was the primary survival skill, and they didn’t provide her with the means to do it.
She is possibly the only health care professional in the state of Maine who has direct, practical experience with the care and treatment of Ebola patients, and the state wants to confine her to her house instead learning the techniques from her.
The airport in ?Bangor?, Maine is the primary alternate landing site for flights from Europe to the US. Aircraft with problems are often diverted there. What if the problem is someone on board displaying Ebola symptoms? What is Maine’s procedure for dealing with it? Do hospitals in Maine even have infectious disease procedures?
Instead of treating her like a criminal they might try treating her as a resource for the most current, real-world information on the disease.