Mass Quarantine in the US: How Will It Work?

originally posted by: TNMockingbird
A few months back, there was a POD (point of dispensing) drill near us. It was odd because I don't recall anything like that before. We've had the usual earthquake and tornado drills. The health department, law enforcement, rescue squad, hospital, everyone involved. My sister was visiting and went down "the wrong road" and commented on how rude the officer was that she was not supposed to be there and was really in the way basically.
So, fast forward to the Ebola situation or lack of situation.
If there was a quarantine in the U.S., people would have to go to work. I can work from home but, alot of folks can't. If they have no savings, what would they do? If our community "shut down" for 3 weeks or so, it would be unfathomable. Would they warn folks that this is coming or would we just "know" because of media, etc? Scary to think of.
Maybe it wouldn't happen just because of an Ebola outbreak. What if it wass the Flu?

I work at a place that is also a POD clinic. Part of the certification and to get your free money by the department of homeland security involved just what you are saying there. Ours was a few years ago.

originally posted by: Khaleesi
a reply to: RunForTheHills

.....Borders should be secured, end of story imo.

You might be interested in the following essays and Lancet article. These quarantines discourage volunteerism, so you might also wish to start planning how to live your life without grocery stores, hospitals, medicines, electricity, water and other essential services. Whether we "fortress" in reaction to Ebola, flu or something else, the effects will be the same. If we don't stop the current epidemic, Ebola will become endemic to West Africa, spread to and in India and other undeveloped nations - the effects will spiral to closed borders and curbs on international movement to disruption in global trade, cuts in productivity, civil unrest and the opportunities that unrest offers to extremist movements. Good luck.

How the world will look if Ebola goes global

….Americans are having a failure of imagination – failing to imagine that the most serious Ebola threat to our country is not in Dallas, not in our country, not even on our borders. It is on the borders of other countries that lack our ability to extinguish sparks.

….It isn't a big leap to the suspicion, disruption and expense that will then be triggered in response to any travellers from the region. From there, it isn't much of a further leap to closed borders, curbs on international movement, disruption in global trade, cuts in productivity, even civil unrest and the opportunities that unrest offers to extremist movements. None of that is far-fetched, if Ebola is not controlled.

Dynamics and control of Ebola virus transmission in Montserrado, Liberia: a mathematical modelling analysis

Interpretation
The number of beds at EVD treatment centres needed to effectively control EVD in Montserrado substantially exceeds the 1700 pledged by the USA to west Africa. Accelerated case ascertainment is needed to maximise effectiveness of expanding the capacity of EVD treatment centres. Distributing protective kits can further augment prevention of EVD, but it is not an adequate stand-alone measure for controlling the outbreak. Our findings highlight the rapidly closing window of opportunity for controlling the outbreak and averting a catastrophic toll of EVD cases and deaths.

….Findings of our analysis suggest that the capacity of EVD treatment centres needed to reduce the severity of the current outbreak greatly exceeds current international commitments. Therefore, many more EVD treatment centres than have been pledged will be needed to avert substantial numbers of EVD cases and deaths. ... Further delays in the provision of effective interventions will continue to undermine the likelihood of averting EVD cases and deaths, suggesting we must scale interventions to the continuously escalating need expeditiously, despite potential costs (panel).

….Continued spread of Ebola virus threatens affected west African nations and the rest of the world, making outbreak containment a global health priority. ...

….But what if, because of this weekend's events, volunteers are discouraged from going to West Africa, for fear of how they will be received on return?

….Ebola will become endemic: a permanent health risk, waxing and waning unpredictably, in an area without the health care personnel to control it or the surveillance to track it. They envision:

* dozens of sparks landing in the U.S. and other developed countries, not just from West Africa but from all over the world
* healthcare workers won't come to work
* cancer patients and HIV-infected persons and children with asthma can't get their medicines because 40 percent of generic drugs in the U.S. come from India, where production and shipping have halted
* refugees, under pressure from civil unrest, insurrection, famine, and economic collapse, [pour] across every border -- some sick, some healthy, some incubating?

It is not guaranteed, they say, that a successful vaccine against Ebola can be "developed, produced, and distributed" in time, and in large enough amounts, to throw a fence of containment around the disease.

….We barely try to imagine what a developing-world pandemic would be like for people who live there. We try and fail to imagine what it would be like for us and our loved ones.

What would it be like:

* if there are dozens of sparks landing in the U.S. and other developed countries, not just from West Africa but from all over the world?
* if healthcare workers won’t come to work?
* if cancer patients and HIV-infected persons and children with asthma can’t get their medicines because 40 percent of generic drugs in the U.S. come from India, where production and shipping have halted?
* if refugees, under pressure from civil unrest, insurrection, famine, and economic collapse, are pouring across every border – some sick, some healthy, some incubating?
* if Ebola in the developing world launches the next Global Financial Crisis?
* if the Holy Grail, the deus-ex-machina – a successful Ebola vaccine – cannot be developed, produced, and distributed before all this happens?

a reply to: soficrow

I said the borders should be secured. I did not say they should be closed. Secured means we should know who is crossing our borders so we can stop those that should be stopped. That isn't happening now, is it?

a reply to: Khaleesi

Sorry - just can't help seeing the implications, looking ahead to predictable effect.