General Discussion

hamsterjill

(17,582 posts)

73. I definitely worry about the flights.

Tue Aug 5, 2014, 03:16 PM

Aug 2014

I'm glad that the two Americans were brought back to the states and are receiving treatment. The treatment sounds promising and I'm sure their plights are providing valuable information to researchers. I sincerely hope they both will recover quickly.

Death threats against the hospital, its staff, or anyone for that matter are absolutely horrible and stretch the resources of the hospital in ways that should NOT have to be stretched, particularly at a time like now when I'm sure they need every available resource to deal with the reality of what is going on.

I do worry that not enough is known about this disease. I see people state with complete confidence that it is not an airborne disease, but do they really know that? Are they really completely sure? I hope they are.

So, yes, I worry about the incoming flights from areas where Ebola is present, and wonder if there's not more that could be done. I don't know what more could be done myself, that's not my area of expertise. I just hope that the powers that be are covering all of the possibilities.

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Why would anyone panic over a very ill person [View all] MineralMan Aug 2014 OP

Fear motivates and sells if you want to sell upaloopa Aug 2014 #1

What is being sold in this case? MineralMan Aug 2014 #2

Fear of desease is in the media. That gets attention and next upaloopa Aug 2014 #3

I'm sorry, but I'm still not understanding your point. MineralMan Aug 2014 #5

I guess you don't watch TV or know how advertising time is sold upaloopa Aug 2014 #18

I do on both counts. MineralMan Aug 2014 #24

The news is being sold. jeff47 Aug 2014 #31

My newspaper had a poll this morning ... Historic NY Aug 2014 #68

I didn't get it either. cwydro Aug 2014 #89

We are a nation of woosies and the reality is that the fastest way to find a cure is if.... Bonhomme Richard Aug 2014 #4

A cure or vaccine for Ebola would be a wonderful thing. MineralMan Aug 2014 #7

You mean all the African pathologists and pharmaceutical companies are waiting for white Americans Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #9

Money, money, money, and politics. WCLinolVir Aug 2014 #51

Well, there's not much money in it for the pharaceutical companies laundry_queen Aug 2014 #62

Not really. longship Aug 2014 #39

Maybe I am being too snarky but it struck me....... Bonhomme Richard Aug 2014 #84

Because people in general sharp_stick Aug 2014 #6

I suppose. But death threats? Panic? MineralMan Aug 2014 #8

Death threats? From where? nt. NCTraveler Aug 2014 #11

Phone calls, emails, and letters have been MineralMan Aug 2014 #14

Don't see that as unusual. nt. NCTraveler Aug 2014 #15

Death threats are a dime a dozen sharp_stick Aug 2014 #13

It is a nasty virus and the symptoms are -- for lack of a better word -- spectacular. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #16

Should I be afraid of Ebola? MineralMan Aug 2014 #23

Afraid? No. But with your driving analogy at least you have a degree of control Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #26

We have an annual epidemic of influenza. MineralMan Aug 2014 #33

OK, but none of that says Ebola CAN'T become a serious epidemic. Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #41

It's a matter of probabilities. MineralMan Aug 2014 #46

Of course the two most recent actual films about a viral epidemic portrayed Bluenorthwest Aug 2014 #27

All true but who wants to be numbered among the infected in the mean time? nt Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #32

Early symptoms are somewhat benign, like a flu. WCLinolVir Aug 2014 #55

That hospital is directly across the street from the CDC which has some of our foremost medical jwirr Aug 2014 #63

I'm not seeking to keep the patients out of the US. I'm merely presuming to voice Nuclear Unicorn Aug 2014 #82

I work in a hospital. Do you? WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #29

I think many people who have worked in hospitals feel the same way. mnhtnbb Aug 2014 #35

Yup. I'd say I'm somewhere between... WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #42

Yes. I think you have to add in the fact these two people mnhtnbb Aug 2014 #49

No, I do not. I considered medical school and scored in the 90+ percentile MineralMan Aug 2014 #40

+10 840high Aug 2014 #56

Your concerns are justified because that is what keeps us safe in situations like this. Thank you. jwirr Aug 2014 #66

Thanks, jwirr. This was... WorseBeforeBetter Aug 2014 #77

Because people in general are ignorant about science AlbertCat Aug 2014 #75

There are no scary Hollywood movies about the flu n/t leftstreet Aug 2014 #10

Maybe there should be. Influenza has killed MineralMan Aug 2014 #12

Contagion was pretty good. nt redqueen Aug 2014 #19

Oh! leftstreet Aug 2014 #25

Ebola is a gruesome disease and few understand epidemiology REP Aug 2014 #17

I suppose, but there is a lot of information available about MineralMan Aug 2014 #21

That information is out there about the flu, whooping cough, etc ... REP Aug 2014 #43

I guess so. MineralMan Aug 2014 #45

prob the same reason people worry about vaccines but not polio, measles and chicken pox La Lioness Priyanka Aug 2014 #20

Yes. That's probably it. We act on almost zero information, but don't MineralMan Aug 2014 #22

makes more sense than panicking over a healthy person, doesn't it? unblock Aug 2014 #28

Because it makes people sit through commercials, awaiting the latest fear. arcane1 Aug 2014 #30

Because we're all being told to be afraid. GoCubsGo Aug 2014 #34

This is America, we panic over everything tularetom Aug 2014 #36

Well, you have to be pretty easily influenced cwydro Aug 2014 #90

Unfamiliarity jeff47 Aug 2014 #37

In 1991, I became a CDC statistic. While in Illinois, MineralMan Aug 2014 #44

But MinMan, Science is hard and Panic is easy!1! We are a nation of scientific illiterates, sadly Hekate Aug 2014 #91

We have had one too many disaster movies about this topic. totodeinhere Aug 2014 #38

Ebola is a Class-4 pathogen lapfog_1 Aug 2014 #47

We're very aware of it, and are actively studying it. MineralMan Aug 2014 #50

Form of isolationism, I think. malthaussen Aug 2014 #48

wan't this doctor also using isolation technique 2pooped2pop Aug 2014 #52

Isolation protocols where he was working are quite MineralMan Aug 2014 #54

It's a symptom of the rethug line that "government can't do anything right" Lee-Lee Aug 2014 #53

I'm a die-hard Dem and don't 840high Aug 2014 #57

WMDs in Iraq, Bush v Gore, NSA blanket surveillance, the Vietnam war, 'corporations are people', KurtNYC Aug 2014 #78

Either they think these two missionaries are foreigners and they do not want them in this country or jwirr Aug 2014 #58

I don't know. From what I've seen, the fretters on DU MineralMan Aug 2014 #60

Too bad about the biographies because that knowledge is exactly what makes me feal confident jwirr Aug 2014 #64

Yes. Biographies aren't very popular with folks, it seems. MineralMan Aug 2014 #67

People think irrationally and believe everything plays out like a movie. Drunken Irishman Aug 2014 #59

Hmm. Plague movies are works of fiction. MineralMan Aug 2014 #61

I think they know it...but it still molds how they look at viruses and shit like this. Drunken Irishman Aug 2014 #65

It makes me despair. MineralMan Aug 2014 #69

we lost a lot of friends when my wife was diagnosed with leukemia dembotoz Aug 2014 #70

I think everyone with a deadly illness faces that. MineralMan Aug 2014 #72

OK, dembotoz? They were not your friends. Skittles Aug 2014 #86

I agree that many people do not handle illness very well ... slipslidingaway Aug 2014 #87

Remember killer bees? Spitfire of ATJ Aug 2014 #71

LOL! MineralMan Aug 2014 #74

I definitely worry about the flights. hamsterjill Aug 2014 #73

Ebola is actually pretty well understood, in terms of communicability. MineralMan Aug 2014 #76

Not just a very ill person malaise Aug 2014 #79

Libertarianism in a Nutshell: MineralMan Aug 2014 #81

That's it in a nutshell malaise Aug 2014 #92

Americans have grown soft. Katashi_itto Aug 2014 #80

Because the media must sell ad time... awoke_in_2003 Aug 2014 #83

because they are stupid Skittles Aug 2014 #85

Ebola is a level 4 pathogen. Iron Man Aug 2014 #88