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Ebola Does Not Require an "Ebola Czar," Nor Calling Up the National Guard
Lasrick writes: David Ropeik explores risk-perception psychology and Ebola in the U.S. "[O]fficials are up against the inherently emotional and instinctive nature of risk-perception psychology. Pioneering research on this subject by Paul Slovic, Baruch Fischhoff, and others, vast research on human cognition by Daniel Kahneman and colleagues, and research on the brain's fear response by neuroscientists Joseph LeDoux, Elizabeth Phelps, and others, all make abundantly clear that the perception of risk is not simply a matter of the facts, but more a matter of how those facts feel. ... People worry more about risks that are new and unfamiliar. People worry more about risks that cause greater pain and suffering. People worry more about threats against which we feel powerless, like a disease for which there is no vaccine and which has a high fatality rate if you get it. And people worry more about threats the more available they are to their consciousness—that is, the more aware people are of them."
If they had just stated the truth, that Ebola is hard to spread with proper controls, and can be contained...
For the public, notions of safety went out the window after the clusterfsck in Texas.
- A patient went to the ER with symptoms, and was sent home
- People in government-mandated quarantine didn't honor the quarantine, and went to public places. It took armed guards to enforce the quarantine.
- Two nurses, wearing the recommended protective equipment became infected, and are being treated now.
- One of the nurses went on an airline flight after treating the Ebola patient, in violation of a number of CDC policies
- Personnel treating the first ebola patient were in constant contact with hundreds of others, including other hospital patients
Restated facts (or "truth") about how difficult it is to transmit can no longer combat the fear that has brewed up.
A pattern of mistake after mistake has emerged - things that should have never happened did. People who knew better didn't do the right thing, over and over.
It's a PR disaster, pure and simple. Any goodwill or trust the public had was burned up in Texas.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
First of all, we already have a "Czar" for this sort of thing. Her name is Dr. Nicole Lurie. That's the real reason we don't need a "Czar" - we already have one.
Secondly, the president can't give the CDC more funding. That's Congress's job.
Thirdly, in the last fifteen years the CDC budget has doubled, so they already have plenty of money. In fact, they have too much money, which has allowed them to ignore their primary mission and go off and do things like stump for gun control, study why lesbians get fat and gay men don't, and determine most monkeys are right handed.
The rules were changed so certain judicial nominations couldn't be filibustered but I don't think that applies to appointments like Surgeon General.
This being an airborne strain is absolute bullshit. There is NO evidence whatsoever to point to it being an airborne pathogen, and there is only a single strain of ebola in the past that has gone airborne and it doesn;t even effect humans. Furthermore that airborne strain of ebola is not the strain of ebola that our current ourbreak has evolved from. This current outbreak is from an older 1980's strain also from africa. Believe me, if this were airborne you would know. People are looking to african nations that are battling the ebola virus right now and they think "Oh shit thousands upon thousands infected in only a few months, HAS TO BE AIRBORNE". That might be true if that was happening here in America where extremely tight quarantine measures are (SUPPOSED) to be observed properly but Africa is a completely different ballgame. Quarantine measures were NOT observed by the majority of the africans infected (only quarantine measures taken were pitiful and only existed in certain places where the people where afraid to go) and to make it even worse education in african nations about the ebola virus was met with suspicion and doubt. The current infection rate in africa, while it may match that of an airborne pathogen, is only due to these horrible conditions. When the majority of people in africa start observing proper safety protocol, when education of the people has actually worked and people arent touching their dead and shit anymore, and when proper medical equipment and staff can get there you will see the infection rate come down to levels appropriate of a virus that spreads only through bodily fluids.
tl;dr This isnt an airborne strain, there is absolutely no evidence of that. The currently high infection rate in Africa is from many other reasons all working together to cause a horrible situation thats almost unmanageable for the people currently in charge.
If this whole outbreak had been in america instead of africa the dead would be less than a thousand easily.
Reid has 55 (D) votes and it only needs 51 to confirm, so put the blame where it belongs.
Why is there no surgeon general?
Short answer: Obama's nominee is a political disaster; a highly partisan anti-gun obamacare cheerleader that the Dems know better than to expose to the confirmation process in an election year.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
The onion nailed this two and a half months ago:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/experts-ebola-vaccine-at-least-50-white-people-awa,36580/
You can fix anything with duct tape and sticks.