NIH doctor schools Elisabeth Hasselbeck after she asks him to ‘seal the borders’ over Ebola

[CatWoman]

Fox News host Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Monday asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institiute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, why he was not recommending a “closing of our borders” in response to an Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

On Monday’s edition of Fox & Friends, Hasselbeck pointed out that a freelance NBC cameraman was being allowed to return to the U.S. after being infected with Ebola. And a man in Dallas who traveled from the Liberia to the U.S. was also fighting for his life.

“Why are we still letting people into the country who could have possibly been exposed?” she asked. “Why not just shut down the flights and secure the borders? Many of you want to know… Why not, just as a precaution until we get things under control, seal off the border temporarily?”

Fauci said that he understood why people might jump to the conclusion that a travel ban might help, but he said that Hasselbeck’s suggestion “didn’t make any sense” because preventing countries from getting aid could make the epidemic worse.

“And if we completely isolate them — don’t let anything in, don’t let anything out — we know from experience with public health, that marginalizes them,” he explained. “And you could have civil unrest, governments could fall. And then you wind up having spread the virus to other countries in west Africa, which would only compound the problem.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/10/nih-doctor-schools-elisabeth-hasselbeck-after-she-asks-him-to-seal-the-borders-over-ebola/comments/#disqus

[JI7]

1. he made some very good points i had not even thought about

but we see it happening in war zones all the time. or even natural disasters . people who are desperate so they leave and you can't prevent it.

there are some on this site who need to hear what he had to say also

[GeorgeGist]

2. Blind stupidity ...

she wears it swell.

[RKP5637]

8. Definitely, she is the star of blind stupidity! n/t

[rustydog]

3. I linked the rawstory post on this to facebook

As I said there, the stupid runs deep at Fox. She makes millions a year to spew hatred, bigotry and ignorance on a grand scale.
I'm fairly certain Roger Ailes is up late at night trying to write a talking point that connects Ebola to Benghazi. And when he does, Lizzy and Orally will run with it.

[Zambero]

4. Daily leper red alert

All "good Christians" should recoil in horror at this news. Simply let him and others like him die wherever he falls, ANYWHERE but MY Christian homeland!

[Wounded Bear]

5. Pretty sure you can't school Liz Hasselbeck...

She may be the sister in law of one of my favorite QBs, but she's got nothing between the ears. Fits right in at Faux Noise.

[tiredtoo]

6. Do not want to downgrade the good Doctor

But almost anyone can "school" this gal.

[littlemissmartypants]

16. Indeed. eom

[Kber]

7. There would also be a pretty big economic impact

We import oil from west Africa, for example.

Plus, many African flights connect via Europe. In fact, tomorrow I fly into new castle via Brussels, which may be where Duncan flew in from. You want to cut trade and business travel from Europe? We'd tip back into recession, if not outright depression, pretty damn quick.

Considering we have one confirmed case, that kind or reaction seems a bit overblown, imo.

[Skittles]

9. I work with people from Africa

this gal would probably not talk to them without a mask and gown

[3catwoman3]

10. Did she really think she could argue...

...with someone like Dr. Fauci? Dream on, Elisabeth .

[CatWoman]

11. lol

he sounded like he wanted to reach across the screen and slap the stupid out of her

[3catwoman3]

12. If only that...

...was all it would take.

[FlatStanley]

13. I wish he would have said it doesn't spread that easily.

So nothing would be gained. Then he could educate her after what would inevitably be an inane "follow up"

[Savannahmann]

14. Perhaps it's me. Perhaps it's a silly question

But how does restricting access in to the US from nations being ravaged by Ebola reduce the help that is sent out to them?

Isolation and Quarantine is public health policy. The CDC operates a number of Quarantine stations.

That's painfully obvious of course. But how does it free up more resources for the fight against Ebola in Africa by allowing it to slip into the United States? Then we are expending vitally needed materials that could be used in Africa, here. Because lets be honest, we're going to take care of our own first, and then if any is left, we might send some to others. I say might because the sense of panic will be so strong as to make people want to stockpile instead of ship it.

Before we can bring Ebola under control, we have to stop it from spreading. Step one is to stop people from flying out of the nations where it is running through the population.

Allow me to quote the CDC website.

Disease is just a flight away
Quarantine station worker interviewing a passenger wearing a mask on a plane
When sick passengers are on a flight, the airline lets CDC know. We evaluate whether they might be contagious to others on the plane.
Some diseases can spread quickly through a community, so CDC works with state and local health departments to evaluate and respond. When necessary, CDC can prevent a sick person from traveling and exposing others to disease.
It's all about making sure 1 sick traveler doesn't become 100 sick people in your community.

So stop the bloody flights from the ebola infected regions. If someone on that flight has been exposed but is not yet symptomatic, that's up to three weeks to get everyone lost on the plane. I know, the theory is that you can only get it by being exposed to the bodily fluids, and only when the person is symptomatic. Guess what. I used theory because the definitive exclamations don't seem to explain everything. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025629458

Because how did a nurse who was specially trained get the disease when only exposed to the patient twice? In other words, I don't think we know everything that we think we do.

If we really want to help those in Africa suffering from this illness. If we really want to stop anyone else from getting sick, somebody better start thinking about quarantine for the affected region, and not letting anyone out. Because I don't think that we help anyone in Africa, by having sick people in Texas, or Spain, or anywhere. Spreading out the available meds to these locations means even less of it gets to Africa.

I was taught as part of my problem solving training. First, don't make the situation worse. In this case, that seems to indicate that we should enact a quarantine for travel from the affected areas.

[Old Crow]

17. I'm not sure you really processed what Dr. Fauci was saying.

You state in your post: "First, don't make the situation worse."

That's precisely Fauci's point. If you were to seal off West Africa, thousands and thousands of business persons, politicians, dual citizens, medical workers, and others would be unable to help like they're helping now. This would degrade a society that's already under extreme stress. This would, per your slogan, make the situation worse. If the situation becomes worse, what little infrastructure and government aid that exists could fall apart, which would result in more chaos and more spread of the disease across Liberia and into other countries.

This is fundamentally different from the quarantine situations you describe. You absolutely do want to quarantine individuals and groups within West African cities to prevent the spread of the disease there. You need to keep the infected away from populations that are extremely vulnerable to the disease. But it makes no sense to seal off a developing country from the developed nations that need unfettered access to the Ebola flare-up so they can help extinguish it.

The occasional entry of an Ebola-infected person into America is NOT going to start an epidemic here. We have sanitizer. We have lots of doctors and hospital beds. We have the CDC. We have a comparatively high level of education among the general populace. People are not vomiting and defecating in the streets among barefoot pedestrians. This is not fertile ground for Ebola; this is not West Africa.

[CatWoman]

19. some people just don't get it

thanks for your post

[benld74]

15. I'll take Reality shows fools for $1000 Alex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Marr]

18. Christ, why are conservatives so cowardly?

Shut down all flights! Close the border!!!

[JI7]

20. only when it comes to black and brown people, white people doing mass shootings

is not cause for concern and no need for any type of gun control.