Africa stems Ebola via border closings, luck

hosted.ap.org...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Health officials battling the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa have managed to limit its spread on the continent to five countries - and two of them appear to have snuffed out the disease. The developments constitute a modest success in an otherwise bleak situation. Officials credit tighter border controls, good patient-tracking and other medical practices, and just plain luck with keeping Ebola confined mostly to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since the outbreak was first identified nearly seven months ago.

so, why can't we do this here, if only temporarily ? they've done it.

a reply to: thishereguy

oh, right i forgot...

We have been isolated," said Kaifala Marah, Sierra Leone's finance and economic development minister. "It really is killing our economies."

a reply to: thishereguy

The straight answer is Money, pure and simple. Business and tourism would be effected if borders were closed, that was a major implication on the restriction of travel when SARS was the last pandemic threat around 10 years ago.

Of course, any loss in revenues if they were to restrict travel right now, would be a drop in the ocean if this thing does become a pandemic.

ETA - Ah, you were asking a rhetorical question.

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

yeah i guess money is more important than lives. just sayin'.

a reply to: thishereguy

Yes. Not for the likes of the rational thinking public, but for the people with more money than sense, yes it does.

a reply to: thishereguy

Which is very unfortunate. To be honest, it sounds like the airlines are going to be impacted again by people unwilling to travel even to visit family during the holidays. Time to update Skype and wave hello to everyone over video.

Here's another one. Google this article "Firestone Did What Governments Have Not: Stopped Ebola In Its Tracks" It's really not that difficult. So the question here is "why does the government appear to not want to contain Ebola?" As one other person has posted, it's money. However, I will take it further - it's the money that the rich can make by first infecting us all with a virus and then selling us the product to "cure" the virus. However, we also have to remember that the United Nations backed Agenda 21 which is the Agenda for depopulation on the planet - starting with the United States. How does it feel, people, to be used as Guinea Pigs? a reply to: thishereguy

a reply to: Cobaltic1978

that wasn't a shot at you, just so you know. but we could hang these up, that will keep it out.

a reply to: thishereguy

I'll go with the tried and trusted fingers crossed method of avoiding this Ebola threat. It's about as effective as our Governments actions attempting to contain this.

a reply to: thishereguy

So we should seal our borders to the West Africans? And what of those Africans who should fly in from, say, France?

And what of the valiant USA workers who wish to fly to Liberia to help in the struggle to defeat Ebola?

They will not fly there if they cannot return.

Also, almost universally, infectious disease experts agree that this would be disastrous.

a reply to: [post=18545

722]Diderot[/post]

Yes, we should seal our borders to W. Africans, unless they would submit to a quarantine at their expense.

The W. Africans trying to fly in from secondary locations, like France or Belgium would be turned away , because of the origin of their visa.

USA workers wanting to come and go would be permitted after a quarantine period.

Infectious disease experts...like Mr. Frieden ?? They work for us and should put our safety first, not some possible ill effects in W. Africa !

a reply to Diderot

Also from your article:

And some observers warn that border closings can have limited effect in a region with highly porous boundaries and few resources to patrol them. Border posts are sometimes easily skirted.

"The fact we stopped doing the West African flights had an impact. On that part I think we got it right. But it still has more to do with luck."

Luck can only last for so long. We have to stop the disease - at it's source.

Liberia did a 3 day lockdown at one point, the slums were barred off from anyone entering or leaving. Just recently in one of the countries there were protests and swaths of people blocking roads because of dead ebola patients in the streets and no one coming to take them away.

The African people 6 months ago were jeering at the government and international community claiming ebola wasn't real. They were advised to change certain living practices, especially eating and trading in bushmeat, and laughed it off. Now that its hit them close to home they're all freaking out asking where is the government to fix this?

The fix will be sealing off their ghettos and letting ebola run its course. Scary thought for people that are there, but does it make sense to cry for them when they went against every bit of advice that would have curtailed it in the beginning?

Whatever you hear on MSM, will be nothing compared to the actual conditions on the ground, "closing off" sections of the cities or countries means closing off people's only means of survival in conditions where they already don't have running electricity or drinking water.

originally posted by: boncho


The fix will be sealing off their ghettos and letting ebola run its course. Scary thought for people that are there, but does it make sense to cry for them when they went against every bit of advice that would have curtailed it in the beginning?

If we are going to do that, I recommend we drone them with bombs, because that would be more humane...

a reply to: conspiracytheoristIAM

"Infectious disease experts...like Mr. Frieden ?? They work for us and should put our safety first, not some possible ill effects in W. Africa !"

The ultimate solution to the worsening Ebola crisis must eventually occur in Africa.

This involves the critical help of the west.

We cannot wall ourselves in in 2014.

originally posted by: Diderot
a reply to: thishereguy

So we should seal our borders to the West Africans? And what of those Africans who should fly in from, say, France?

And what of the valiant USA workers who wish to fly to Liberia to help in the struggle to defeat Ebola?

They will not fly there if they cannot return.

Also, almost universally, infectious disease experts agree that this would be disastrous.

And that's why most smart people are saying to put travel bans and restrictions on PASSPORTS! Anyone coming from a hot zone area can't come in. Easy Peasy.

a reply to: StoutBroux

How about a Saudi who travels to Liberia to deliberately get infected then come to NYC and spread it?

Stopping flights and passports will not matter.

a reply to: StoutBroux

"And that's why most smart people are saying to put travel bans and restrictions on PASSPORTS! Anyone coming from a hot zone area can't come in. Easy Peasy."

One thing I am sure of is that this crisis will get worse and will require extraordinary cooperation among nations.
I see no solution that comes close to Easy Peasy.

originally posted by: thishereguy
hosted.ap.org...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Health officials battling the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa have managed to limit its spread on the continent to five countries - and two of them appear to have snuffed out the disease. The developments constitute a modest success in an otherwise bleak situation. Officials credit tighter border controls, good patient-tracking and other medical practices, and just plain luck with keeping Ebola confined mostly to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea since the outbreak was first identified nearly seven months ago.

so, why can't we do this here, if only temporarily ? they've done it.

And what are these countries?

a reply to: knightsofhonor

ummm, read the story at the link?