Pictures I like

[Mookalafalas]

I think this is mistaken.  I saw some Fox news, and it turns out The movie World War Z is directly based on ebola.  Remember the airplane scene? That is what ebola carriers are like.  We need to build a wall around America, and then keep very, very quiet (and be expecially wary of foreigners, especially non-white foreigners).

[Todd]

I saw some Fox news, and it turns out The movie World War Z is directly based on ebola.

I'm not sure what Fox News reports, nor do I care.  What I do care about is the fact that the CDC has not been forthright about Ebola, or how it spreads.  The second section of the document I posted states that the disease can be spread by coughing or sneezing.  That is, the disease is airborne.  No, not airborne like measles (thankfully), but it can be spread by a wee sneeze.  Until this document was released - without notifying the press - the US government had insisted that it cannot be spread easily.  The fact that over 200 trained medical professionals, almost all of whom wore protective gear, have died during this outbreak was apparently supposed to be overlooked.  I am concerned by the poor communication, poor coordination, and poor execution by US public health professionals.  Nigerian public health officials did a better job. 

It's time for the US to get serious, and to impose a sensible quarantine on healthcare workers returning from infected regions - home quarantine for at least 21 days, and up to 42 days, with compensation of lost wages at taxpayer expense - and for much more tightly monitored travel.  At least US Marines are headed to West Africa, which would allow the President the ability to stop all mass travel if needed.  Not that that is factored into the deployment of forces at all, mind you.

Of course, I sort of have indirect concerns.  My wife works in healthcare, and the provider she works for is touting the line that the disease is hard to spread.  Unfortunately, she gets sneezed on and coughed on all the time, with no protective gear.  Granted, I live on the Left Coast, and none of her coworkers are running off to treat Ebola patients, and the African immigrant populations that have taken up residence in my area are mostly East African, but it would still be good to take stronger efforts to stop a disease with a 50-70% fatality rate.  Before it mutates yet again.  (If the current story in The New Yorker is accurate, it apparently already has.)  Oh, and the government should pour more money into producing more ZMapp.  I don't find Ebola to really be a matter to joke about, but maybe it's just me. 

[Karl Henning]

Indeed, the best prophylactic against mass panic, is sensible precaution, among the health professionals first of all.

[Mookalafalas]

  Well, I agree that if it can be spread in that manner, the disease has been misrepresented.   However, there is still a ridiculous amount of (often) politically inspired fear-mongering going on.  When I read about the Texas college that is refusing readmission of students from any African country that has had an ebola case, to the (Alabama?) congressional candidate recommending that anyone diagnosed with the disease be immediately executed (and that is just the tip of the ice-berg), it makes me sick.

I'm not sure what Fox News reports, nor do I care.  What I do care about is the fact that the CDC has not been forthright about Ebola, or how it spreads.  The second section of the document I posted states that the disease can be spread by coughing or sneezing.  That is, the disease is airborne.  No, not airborne like measles (thankfully), but it can be spread by a wee sneeze.  Until this document was released - without notifying the press - the US government had insisted that it cannot be spread easily.  The fact that over 200 trained medical professionals, almost all of whom wore protective gear, have died during this outbreak was apparently supposed to be overlooked.  I am concerned by the poor communication, poor coordination, and poor execution by US public health professionals.  Nigerian public health officials did a better job. 

It's time for the US to get serious, and to impose a sensible quarantine on healthcare workers returning from infected regions - home quarantine for at least 21 days, and up to 42 days, with compensation of lost wages at taxpayer expense - and for much more tightly monitored travel.  At least US Marines are headed to West Africa, which would allow the President the ability to stop all mass travel if needed.  Not that that is factored into the deployment of forces at all, mind you.

Of course, I sort of have indirect concerns.  My wife works in healthcare, and the provider she works for is touting the line that the disease is hard to spread.  Unfortunately, she gets sneezed on and coughed on all the time, with no protective gear.  Granted, I live on the Left Coast, and none of her coworkers are running off to treat Ebola patients, and the African immigrant populations that have taken up residence in my area are mostly East African, but it would still be good to take stronger efforts to stop a disease with a 50-70% fatality rate.  Before it mutates yet again.  (If the current story in The New Yorker is accurate, it apparently already has.)  Oh, and the government should pour more money into producing more ZMapp.  I don't find Ebola to really be a matter to joke about, but maybe it's just me.

[Todd]

However, there is still a ridiculous amount of (often) politically inspired fear-mongering going on.

True.  Witness the Cuomo 'n' Christie sideshow.  It has been made worse by bungling by the Obama Administration.  If only a person, perhaps a leader of some sort, who had access to national media, would give a television address, or even a webcast, covering this topic in a bit of detail, laying out a more comprehensive government response, and calming nerves, these types of things could be mitigated.  If only the US had such a person at a time like this. 

[Mookalafalas]

True.  Witness the Cuomo 'n' Christie sideshow.  It has been made worse by bungling by the Obama Administration.  If only a person, perhaps a leader of some sort, who had access to national media, would give a television address, or even a webcast, covering this topic in a bit of detail, laying out a more comprehensive government response, and calming nerves, these types of things could be mitigated.  If only the US had such a person at a time like this.

Something like this?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/weekly-address

[Todd]

Something like this?

That's step one.  I don't know what the viewership is for the President's weekly web addresses, but I can say that no one I know watches them.  A press conference would also be good, but of course, Obama is more press averse than any recent President.

[TheGSMoeller]

The title of this article from VOX.COM is, "This photo of Kim Jong Un looks like a still from a Wes Anderson movie"

[Moonfish]

That's step one.  I don't know what the viewership is for the President's weekly web addresses, but I can say that no one I know watches them.  A press conference would also be good, but of course, Obama is more press averse than any recent President.

Todd,
I don't think that is exactly true. It depends on how you define recent and how you analyze the numbers. He is currently #6 out of the last ten presidents in terms of news conferences per month. The last three presidents had about 2 press conferences per month on average. Your statement is incorrect unless you consider 1.70 conferences per month as a drastic difference compared to 2.01 or 2.18 (comparing to the last two presidents). In my eyes those numbers are pretty similar, so I would argue that the last three presidents have had a very similar relationship to the press in terms of number of press conferences. In contrast FDR and Coolidge were very active with the press!! 

Source:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/newsconferences.php

[Dancing Divertimentian]

The title of this article from VOX.COM is, "This photo of Kim Jong Un looks like a still from a Wes Anderson movie"

Kim Jong seems to be having a flashback...(click image to enlarge)

[Todd]

He is currently #6 out of the last ten presidents in terms of news conferences per month.

Well, I stand corrected.  President Obama is only in the bottom half of the last ten presidents in terms of press conferences.  I guess this is in line with being the most transparent administration ever. 

[Moonfish]

Well, I stand corrected.  President Obama is only in the bottom half of the last ten presidents in terms of press conferences.  I guess this is in line with being the most transparent administration ever.

It seems like the last 10-20 years should have been more transparent compared to the past considering the "flow" and "frenzy" of the media compared to FDR's days. Peculiar!

[Ken B]

Well, I stand corrected.  President Obama is only in the bottom half of the last ten presidents in terms of press conferences.  I guess this is in line with being the most transparent administration ever.

One of the easiest to see through anyway.

[Ken B]

I'm not sure what Fox News reports, nor do I care.  What I do care about is the fact that the CDC has not been forthright about Ebola, or how it spreads.  The second section of the document I posted states that the disease can be spread by coughing or sneezing.  That is, the disease is airborne.  No, not airborne like measles (thankfully), but it can be spread by a wee sneeze.  Until this document was released - without notifying the press - the US government had insisted that it cannot be spread easily.  The fact that over 200 trained medical professionals, almost all of whom wore protective gear, have died during this outbreak was apparently supposed to be overlooked.  I am concerned by the poor communication, poor coordination, and poor execution by US public health professionals.  Nigerian public health officials did a better job. 

It's time for the US to get serious, and to impose a sensible quarantine on healthcare workers returning from infected regions - home quarantine for at least 21 days, and up to 42 days, with compensation of lost wages at taxpayer expense - and for much more tightly monitored travel.  At least US Marines are headed to West Africa, which would allow the President the ability to stop all mass travel if needed.  Not that that is factored into the deployment of forces at all, mind you.

Of course, I sort of have indirect concerns.  My wife works in healthcare, and the provider she works for is touting the line that the disease is hard to spread.  Unfortunately, she gets sneezed on and coughed on all the time, with no protective gear.  Granted, I live on the Left Coast, and none of her coworkers are running off to treat Ebola patients, and the African immigrant populations that have taken up residence in my area are mostly East African, but it would still be good to take stronger efforts to stop a disease with a 50-70% fatality rate.  Before it mutates yet again.  (If the current story in The New Yorker is accurate, it apparently already has.)  Oh, and the government should pour more money into producing more ZMapp.  I don't find Ebola to really be a matter to joke about, but maybe it's just me.

+1 on all counts.
Well, except for the joking part, I can never resist a good one-liner and if I think of one on ebola it will pop out.
So far we have been pretty lucky. But it is hard not to notice the lack of competence, preparation, and candour from those who are supposed to be prepared for just exactly this sort of thing.

[Moonfish]

Well, I stand corrected.  President Obama is only in the bottom half of the last ten presidents in terms of press conferences.  I guess this is in line with being the most transparent administration ever.

Average number of conferences - not the bottom layer. Interesting how words can change perspectives! 

[Moonfish]

+1 on all counts.
Well, except for the joking part, I can never resist a good one-liner and if I think of one on ebola it will pop out.
So far we have been pretty lucky. But it is hard not to notice the lack of competence, preparation, and candour from those who are supposed to be prepared for just exactly this sort of thing.

I think the issue is that we haven't had any experience since the great flu epidemic.

[Mookalafalas]

I think the issue is that we haven't had any experience since the great flu epidemic.

  Of course a deadly disease is serious, but still, perspective is called for. Only two people have been infected in the US, and that was due to lack of appropriate carefulness, and the lesson was learned.  One person in total has died of Ebola in the US. The "new strain" in NY turned out to be a cold. And yet there is a media frenzy.  Meanwhile, an average of 286 people are shot every day, over 80 of whom die.  Every 3 days more children (0-19 years of age) are killed by guns than died in the Newtown shooting.  Just sayin'

Hey, whatever happened to the "Picures I like" thread?  Here is one I took fairly recently.

The Hand that Rocks the Hammock (see it-}.jpg by Mookalafalas, on Flickr

[Ken B]

I think the issue is that we haven't had any experience since the great flu epidemic.

Not so. There have been for instance ebola and Marburg outbreaks in Africa, Legionnaires here, etc, etc. the CDC is supposed to learn from these, and know what measures are apprpriate. There was an ebola outbreak in Virginnia I believe some years ago.
A lot of this is mundane stuff: should masks be worn, is three feet enough, what anti septics work, what thickness gloves, how long should observation periods be? When do you quarntine?

Another example I forgot.
A few years ago there was SARS. Toronto dealt with that, a more extensive outbreak of a more contagious disease, well, without panic, without misleading the public to calm them.
There has been ebola in Africa for a while now, this is no surprise.

Preparedness and knowledge of how to deal with an outbreak is the CDC's whole reason for being, and for having big budgets. Yet hospitals get no clear guidance, and conflicting things get said. The concern seems to be political, avoid embarassing panic.

[Todd]

Of course a deadly disease is serious, but still, perspective is called for...Meanwhile, an average of 286 people are shot every day, over 80 of whom die.  Every 3 days more children (0-19 years of age) are killed by guns than died in the Newtown shooting.  Just sayin'

Well, if it's perspective you're after, more people die every day in West Africa from malaria and AIDS.  On the flip side, the fatality rate is lower for any given period for those two diseases. 

It is sensible to take measures to prevent Ebola from infecting more people in the US, and every other non-West African country not currently dealing with the disease, and for the US and other wealthy countries to take steps to stop the current outbreaks.

Toting out gun deaths and Newtown is, though, a nicely cynical ploy, and one that can be disguised as a caring, concerned rejoinder.  It's not.  It's hard to see, for instance, how American Bullet Flu can be transmitted to Canada or Japan, whereas it is conceivable that Ebola could be transmitted from the US to either of those countries due to carelessness.

And none of this has anything to do with the fact that the current Administration has failed to clearly or effectively communicate facts about the disease and steps being taken to address it.  It took the CDC until today to widely publish the rudimentary four tier risk categories for travelers arriving from West Africa.  That's just plain old ineptitude.

[Mookalafalas]

Toting out gun deaths and Newtown is, though, a nicely cynical ploy, and one that can be disguised as a caring, concerned rejoinder.  It's not. 

  It's cynical to think we should focus our effort on something that's actually killing lots of Americans?  To be honest, I am not sure what you mean by "cynical" here, and am doubtful about your usage. It is clear, though, that this has shifted the topic from a debate about an issue to talking about my character, thus forming an ad hominem attack. As far as bad form in argument, this is not your worst offense.  Your central argument seems to run that "As zero people have died as a result of contracting ebola in the United States, we can see that the US response to the disease is terrible"--a classic non-sequitir. If you stopped there, it would have been impressive, but you continue with a slippery slope "and this terrible response shows that the CDC is incompetent and therefore Obama is a terrible president".  Your continuing the slippery slope right out of American by suggesting that this incompetence will also harm our friends (Canada and Japan), is inspired.  Keep this up, and you could get a job ghost writing for Ann Coulter.