Ebola evacuations to US greater than previously known

Ebola evacuations to US greater than previously known

An undisclosed number of people who’ve been exposed to the Ebola virus — not just the four patients publicly identified with diagnosed cases — have been evacuated to the U.S. by an air ambulance company contracted by the State Department.

“We moved a lot of other people who had an exposure event,” said Dent Thompson, vice president of Phoenix Air Group. “Many times these people are just fine, they just had an exposure. But you have to treat it as though the disease is present.”

How many exposed patients have been flown from West Africa to the U.S.? Thompson said medical privacy laws and his company’s contract with the State Department prevent him from revealing the figure.

“I’m not avoiding it,” Thompson told Yahoo News. “I’m just not allowed to talk about it.”

Amazing.

What more can be said?

Nothing...it's an exposure event! Not like they slept with the infected. This is just pushing doom porn as far as I can see.

a reply to: minkmouse

It's not doom porn to expose the impression that there have only been a handful of these transport cases.

But the numbers are undisclosed even "Thompson" can't give a figure So the suggestion is what?

a reply to: minkmouse

originally posted by: minkmouse
But the numbers are undisclosed even "Thompson" can't give a figure So the suggestion is what?

"We moved a lot of other people who had an exposure event”

Not just a few...or some...but A LOT.

That's a bit more than a suggestion.

originally posted by: loam
a reply to: minkmouse

originally posted by: minkmouse
But the numbers are undisclosed even "Thompson" can't give a figure So the suggestion is what?

"We moved a lot of other people who had an exposure event”

Not a few...or some...but A LOT.

That's a bit more than a suggestion.

He could have been flying two a year and in the past two weeks he's flown five, to him it's a LOT! For me it will take a lot more than a sensationalistic couple of paragraphs with no backing numbers to support it to garner much concern . You could very well be onto something, there could have been thousands but as it stands, "Thompson" has flown what he considers a lot! Regarding the "Doom porn", maybe a tad strong to lump it in with but without substantiating figures it sorta travels on those tracks IMHO

I don't care how many, I care how they are managed when they get here. The one I know of who was simply exposed and flown back to ATL was only under observation. That's just not adequate to me. I would prefer at least an in house quarantine.

Even if they WERE infected, I still wouldn't be too alarmed. We're talking about medical professionals here, people who have trained their entire careers to do this one particular job: transport infected persons as safely as possible.

It's smart that they aren't giving numbers of people transported - we, as a public, panic far too quickly when we hear about them transporting infected individuals over here. Let them come on our professionals' terms, let them be treated and released, and let us learn more from it.

a reply to: minkmouse

Look, it's pretty simple. The public has a right to know the extent of these transports. The contractor reveals there are MANY more than have been previously revealed. He claims medical privacy laws prevent him from disclosing the number, but that is COMPLETE BS. Medical privacy laws prevent the disclosure of personal identifying information, not statistical information.

So the excuse is a lie.

You may be comfortable with someone deciding what you need to know, but I am not.

a reply to: loam

Medical privacy laws....And/OR, His companies contract. You left out the second part. It could be both, either, or...

Actually from the article you linked

"Thompson said Phoenix Air has flown 10 Ebola-related missions in the past six weeks."

So there are your numbers

a reply to: minkmouse

Missions does not equate to numbers of people or their circumstances.

Moreover, while I have no doubt his State Department contract requires his silence (a provision which even his minor disclosure likely has already been violated), that has nothing to do with whether the government should be withholding this information from the public.

No visibility means no accountability.

Like I said, you may be comfortable with that. I am not.

a reply to: gatorboi117

You mean the same medical professional group that has trained all their lives to be able to protect themselves from an infectious disease and caught it anyway? Yeah, that inspires TONS of confidence......

a reply to: loam

ok - lets cut to the chase - what actual use is the number to you ?

lets play out a few hypothetical senarios :

1 - the numer is 16

2 - the number is 182

3 - the number is 2075

in each case you have a number - what are you going to do based on each

a reply to: kosmicjack

I agree.

seems comical in a way because if I were to travel overseas and of course, take my dog.... my dog, not me would be in quarantine for about 30 or so days.

humans can travel without any quarantine whatsoever.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

That's right, basque in the comfortable ignorance government bureaucrats provide you.

It's not about the actual numbers. It's about the lack of disclosure for no better reason than that's the way someone likes it.

Explain to me what compelling public safety or state interest is served by not disclosing the actual numbers?

But I forget that open governance is really just an illusory concept. My bad.

a reply to: loam

What does this even matter. After the AU (foolish Zuma) urged to stop restrictions from the infected countries to all other African countries the whole world is being put at risk.

If they get it right to stop South Africa from banning flights to or from there it is a disaster. South Africa flies all over the world and it will not be good. We are still fighting this issue, but it seems inevitable.

They worry about the "economy". Foolish. The economy is useless when everyone is dead.

a reply to: Rich Z

No, I'm talking about a different medical group.

The one being infected are just the average medical practitioner and nurse. The one i'm putting my trust in are the ones who have received highly specialized training in handling just this specific scenario, and are doing a dang good job at it.

a reply to: loam
To my knowledge, stating a numerical figure wouldn't be a HIPAA violation.
If so, the man already violated it by saying "a lot."
S&F

a reply to: loam

Actually.. they kinda do. The first two people were brought over separately. So my guess would be no more than one or two per flight and probably only one because of the personnel and the fact that if the person being flown over isn't sick, but a second person on the plane is it would be risky and they can only have so many isolation pods on these planes.

So from ten flights you can figure a relatively low number and most likely just ten, maybe twenty, I sincerely doubt any more than that.