WhatFinger


Outbreak?

Dallas nurse contracts Ebola from patient; protocols apparently not followed



This development does not mean we have some sort of Ebola epidemic. What it does mean, however, is that we really don't know as much as we think we do about how to contain it and prevent health care providers from contracting it. That is disconcerting not because it necessary means a huge outbreak is in the offing, but because you can't take seriously the assurances of government health officials who tell us there's nothing to worry about.
Why? Because they are pulling that out of their asses. They have no idea. The fate of the Dallas nurse who has now contracted Ebola - the first known case to occur entirely on American soil - is unknown. So is the answer to this question: Do we really have the slightest idea how to make sure it doesn't happen again?
While the new Ebola patient was not publicly identified, officials said that she was a nurse who had helped treat Mr. Duncan at a hospital here and that she may have violated safety protocols. It was the first confirmed instance of Ebola being transmitted in this country. Officials expanded the pool of people they had been monitoring, because the nurse had not been among the 48 health care workers, relatives of Mr. Duncan and others whom they were evaluating daily.

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The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that health officials look more closely at the protective gear that nurses, doctors and hospital assistants use when treating Ebola patients. It also, for the first time, was considering the idea that patients with the virus should be transferred to hospitals with special containment units and experience in treating the disease.
Now what do you make of this? Is it federal officials trying to cover their asses by blaming it on the people involved, or did it really happen as follows?
A "breach of protocol" at the hospital where Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan was treated before his death led to the infection of a healthcare worker with the deadly virus, and other caregivers could potentially be exposed, federal health officials said Sunday. The hospital worker, a woman who was not identified by officials, wore protective gear while treating the Liberian patient, and she has been unable to point to how the breach might have occurred, said Dr. Tom Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Duncan was the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola.
Look, I'm willing to cut the government slack in the sense that I think it's unrealistic for people to expect the government to have some sort of foolproof action plan for every problem that could ever happen. It's not their fault Americans went to Liberia and contracted Ebola, and it's not their fault they made it back into the country with it. The problem, though, is that the political class constantly encourages the idea that government can and should solve every problem, and beats officeholders to a bloody pulp if they are perceived to have failed in specific instances, like Hurricane Katrina, which was the supposed death knell of the Bush presidency. So it turns out the government can't really prevent every disaster, and doesn't always know how to contain the effects. But they still stand up and make confident pronouncements that everything is under control, even when they have absolutely no idea. The purpose of that, I guess, is to keep people calm. If they realize the government doesn't know what to do . . . panic! But maybe that's the problem - the fact that people react that way. It's kind of irrational when you think about it. I don't panic when I think the government doesn't know what to do about a problem. In fact, in general, I just assume they don't know what to do. I figure if the problem comes knocking on my door, I'll have to make a good decision of my own about how to deal with it. Am I really that atypical? Are all the rest of you waiting with bated breath for the government to assure you that they've got everything under control, such that you'll spiral into a full-scale panic attack if and when you realize they haven't got a clue? Maybe I'm just weird. It's been suggested.


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Dan Calabrese -- Bio and Archives

Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain

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