Ebola calm-mongering?????

I noticed that within the past few days our gov't and media seems to be bending over backwards to get us to not even think about Ebola.

CNN had a particularly snotty piece about this threat. I thought the tone was rather condescending. Here's the headline:

Ebola hysteria: An epic, epidemic overreaction

www.cnn.com...

Then there's the never-ending reports that talk about Ebola "scares" which instantly declare that said patient/patients have tested negative even though they were in hospital for a very short period of time.

Ebola testing, if done properly, takes several days. Not 24 hours or less.

I think we need to look at the government's actions rather than listen to its words.

We're told not to "overreact." We're told to remain "calm," even though the gov't is trying to stockpile tons of protective gear that will last at least one year:

www.infowars.com...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is looking to stockpile a year’s worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) in order to prepare for an expected disruption to the supply chain due to an “emergency” event. A solicitation posted on FedBizOpps entitled Emergency Disaster Event Preparation For Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) details how the federal government is looking to secure face masks, medical gloves, shoe covers, lab coats and coveralls to last one full year with an option for four extra years.

Then there's the recent news that our gov't was organizing a 30-member team to treat Ebola, which (after training, of course) is supposed to be ready to be deployed within 72 hours.

Then there's the lack of news re. the Duncan family. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy that with all the time he spent with his family prior to being admitted to hospital, that not one got sick. Not a one.

Then there's the Yahoo report that declared the "Ebola worries end for dozens on U.S. watch lists"

news.yahoo.com...

Sometimes people need the quarantine period to last more than three weeks.

We're not even close to being out of the woods. Not yet. Why the sudden appeal for calm?

Imo when the gov't tells us not to panic, that's when we should run.

I think it's reverse psychology, they want mass panic. They want people to say "Screw You Yahoo and CNN", I'm getting the Vaccine as soon as it becomes available.

Tell people "Don't Worry" and they will worry.
Tell people "The vaccine might take a year to develop" and they will want it immediately.

Nice work CDC.

There's hundred and one ways you could have a fever - everything from a dental abscess to a stomach bug or Ebola. if you have an infection and are walking around with a fever, they you are in a pretty bad state either way.

So if someone gets a fever now, they have to put them in quarantine, even if it is a "false positive". The statisticians have what is known as a contingency matrix:

| Quarantine | No Quarantine
Patient has Ebola | True Positive | False Negative
Patient doesn't have Ebola | False Positive | True Negative

Outcome of False Negative is the worst case; media shark frenzy.

What I came to fear in these early days (and these are still the early days) of a world wide epidemic, is not Ebola, but the sheer idiocy, ineptitude and arrogance in our Western response. I found our stupidity in dealing with Ebola to be a terrifying reality check.

A group of school children could have planned better than the organizations chartered to do so. The house is indeed built of cards. A sad, sad state of affairs.

Dear Government, it isn't fear of Ebola, it is fear of your stupidity. Really. It is. If this represented our best and brightest in government employ, we are screwed.

I thought "hysteria" was deemed politically incorrect hate speech by the Ministry of Propaganda. I guess that is only if non-democrat males use it in reference to progressive agendas.

a reply to: dianajune



Yes, I 've noticed this too. In fact it's as obvious as a series of balloons all deflating at the same time.

The most blatant being that eloquent letter 'written by' Louise Froh, an immigrant from the West African nation of 'Libolia', who can hardly finish a spoken sentence in English, let alone place a comma in the right place!

I suspect that alot of this 'calmness campaign' has to do with certain government agencies' attempts to avoid a barrage of lawsuits against them.
;

a reply to: DancedWithWolves

Dear Government, it isn't fear of Ebola, it is fear of your stupidity. Really. It is. If this represented our best and brightest in government employ, we are screwed.

best and brightest...yeah right...more likely the most greedy and deceitful

Yeah. They did the same thing when they flew the first patients into the U.S. Said it would never get here otherwise...they were very safe and contained...blah blah.

But that's so typical. Irresponsibility and inaccuracy on their part followed by chastising people for reacting to them. Sick of it.

Our Ebola czar is a lawyer and a crisis response operative.

Need we say more. All we can do now is sit back and watch the play.

The czar has done a good job on ending all the reporrts on every suspected Ebola case. Further...the news embargo by CDC seems to be effective.

And shutting up Tom Friedan helps a bit...

But...
has anyone yet seen a live report with video of Louise Troh and son, and the rest of the family? In this case we have to insist 'pics or it isn't true'.
Has the numbers of visas out of the epidemic zones been reduced? Have flights out of there been stopped yet?
Have you heard from Nina Phen's boyfriend?
Is the epidemic still growing?
Did I miss a crapload of questions about all the other potentials?
What if we do stop this round, but India..or Brazil...or Mexico...is not so lucky, and we have to look at those points of entry and potential incoming?

This is the first episode of what may be a long haul, and I'm not even sure this round is done. If what is playing out is mostly true, the degree of infectivity seems to be low until there are advanced symptoms...but we have SO FEW reference examples, disease advances differently in people. And this Ebola is different in the incubation period than any past strain, so we don't know exactly how to handle it yet - in spite of assurances from Dr. Baghdad Bob Friedan.

My guard is not down by any means.
Stop it from getting here...so we will be able to stop it from spreading there. They are not mutually exclusive.

a reply to: Starling

You're close, but what's really going on is that this ineptitude on the part of government is sort of like Katrina was for Bush. It's the most unwelcome and horrific October surprise the Democrats never wanted.

Now that their own hysteria is calming and the media is realizing that they can't actually pin this on Perry in Texas because the ire is being directed at the Federal response instead of the state ... they want to tamp down on fear as fast as they can because the election is coming and things aren't looking good.

But it isn't fear of Ebola so much as fear of government ineptitude ...

The fear and hysteria came from the belief that people could catch Ebola from a guy who touched a guy a week ago. The doctors, experts, and people in the peanut gallery have been telling everyone all along that it was very hard to catch because of the nature of when it becomes contagious, and that by the time it is really contagious the poor person with it can hardly move from the effects of the disease. The ones who are contagious are not healthy enough to get on planes, eat at McDonald's, or jump out at you from a bush. The same-shirt judge seems to have known the facts all along, and knew that he'd be fine. He took a chance, and used his experience - hanging out with people who may have been fatally exposed, driving them to a new location - to educate the public about the extent that the fear, the thoughts of 'everyone is going to die from this', was way off from the truth of the situation facing humanity.

a reply to: James1970

You made an excellent point about reverse psychology, but for hardened gov't critics such as myself that is unlikely to work. I refuse to take such a vaccine. In fact, I don't even take the flu shot. My philosophy is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Another issue with an Ebola vaccine is the lack of testing. Who would want to be the first guinea pig? Not I!

I wonder what the gov't will do should they develop the vaccine and a number of people refuse to take it? Lots?

originally posted by: stormcell
There's hundred and one ways you could have a fever - everything from a dental abscess to a stomach bug or Ebola. if you have an infection and are walking around with a fever, they you are in a pretty bad state either way.

So if someone gets a fever now, they have to put them in quarantine, even if it is a "false positive". The statisticians have what is known as a contingency matrix:

| Quarantine | No Quarantine
Patient has Ebola | True Positive | False Negative
Patient doesn't have Ebola | False Positive | True Negative

Outcome of False Negative is the worst case; media shark frenzy.

I heard someone say they were encouraged to get the flu vaccine, because if they didn't and then they got sick, they'd have to be put in quarantine. Almost as if they were trying to convince this person that the flu shot actually works.

I have asthma plus g.i. issues due to abdominal surgeries I've had over the years. If someone were to see me on a bad day they might suspect, if they were in full-blown panic mode, that I had something contagious.

I wonder how many false negatives are out there? I understand Dr. Brantly was one.

a reply to: DancedWithWolves

Reminds me of something I heard about fear and Ebola. We might have more to fear from the government's response to Ebola than the actual disease itself.

He could be right.

originally posted by: queenofswords
Our Ebola czar is a lawyer and a crisis response operative.

Need we say more. All we can do now is sit back and watch the play.

I believe he was chosen not for his expertise in the medical field (of which he has none whatsoever) but for political damage control.

I can't believe they chose someone who is not an m.d. or r.n. This is mind-boggling.

Many thanks to all who've responded thus far. You each made some valid points.

I just found this on Drudge. The calm-mongering continues:

Headline:

US cautiously optimistic after no new Ebola in 5 days

news.yahoo.com...

But that's what the media does best.

They pump you up and get you in a frenzy with frantic headliners... so they can turn around in the next breath and slam you down.

Keep the masses in a tizzy so they don't know whether to wind their ass or scratch their watch.

It's not just the media.
There are plenty of member here on ATS saying "See, it's all over. Look how stupid these people are. They were worried about Ebola. No reason to worry about ebola."

When a virus can turn you into a sack of rotted meat and the government insists that we need to import people that may have it, I worry.

originally posted by: lakesidepark

Is the epidemic still growing?

Good question!

What if we do stop this round, but India..or Brazil...or Mexico...

London.....

A question to the forum (sorry if it sounds ignorant)

An ebola infected person sweating and having a fever and possibly coughing and sneezing due to ebola on a packed london train at rush hour... How many people would this potentially infect?....
i.dailymail.co.uk...