CDC issues Ebola checklist: 'Now is the time to prepare'

Sensationalism perhaps, but you never know for sure.

The CDC has come out with a checklist for hospitals and medical people to help them determine if somebody is infected with EBOLA.

the document itself is in the article...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warning hospitals and doctors that “now is the time to prepare,” has issued a six-page Ebola “checklist” to help healthcare workers quickly determine if patients are infected.

While the CDC does not believe that there are new cases of Ebola in the United States, the assumption in the checklist is that it is only a matter of time before the virus hits home.

For example, one part reads: “Encourage healthcare personnel to use a ‘buddy system’ when caring for patients.” Another recommends a process to report cases to top officials: .........................

CDC issues Ebola checklist: 'Now is the time to prepare'

Standard Procedure ?

Or is Something Ready to Happen?

We have a president who seems of incapable of making moves that could be seen as politically incorrect, so I'm guessing we're not going to shut down the border or stop taking flights from Africa. It's only a matter of time.

Then, you have to prepare for the possibility that the virus could mutate into something airborne. It's not likely, but it is mutating and every new infection offers up another chance. At the rate this epidemic is spreading ... that's a lot of chances. If that magic mutation occurs, nothing will stop it, and it will be here in weeks to days.

Everything you see in Africa will be happening here because it would be able to overwhelm our medical infrastructure easily.

BUT, that's a very small chance it could happen. More likely it gets here as it is - a standard hemorrhagic fever.

What I worry about besides Ebola hitting the country, is how people will react when it hits us.

They'll either not care and think everything is all good and unwillingly help spread the virus, or they'll overreact, panic and demand answers/services.

A storm is your best friend compared to the aftermath.

Does anyone think it likely that Ebola will hit the UK?

If it takes hold then it will probably spread much faster because virtually everyone is mobile.

Contact tracing could turn into a nightmare.

a reply to: stardust22

Yes I do. It's likely to hit anywhere, depends on who decides to catch a flight to that place.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

To some degree, I do too. I fear a panic. If people would take some time to do a little research, they could understand that as it is now, Ebola is totally aided and abetted by the conditions and culture of the countries it's in. Our own society isn't (or shouldn't) be nearly as easy for it to take root in so long as people keep their heads and act smart.

Ebola is extremely serious for you if you catch it, but it isn't nearly as easy to catch as people think. It should be relatively easy for outbreaks to be kept localized and isolated so long as we don't panic and behave sensibly. And if we do that, even those of us who do get it should have the advantage of a health system that can leverage the full benefit of care. Those who receive the best care from early on significantly improve their chances of survival.

If we panic ... all bets are off.

a reply to: ketsuko

Do you think people will panic? Sometimes sheeples' ignorance really scares me...

a reply to: ketsuko

I agree. Ebola could do damage but I don't think it'll be the virus to do us in. I have to say however that the US isn't super clean like we think. Any walk down a NYC street will prove it. Garbage, urine, feces, tossed food, mattresses.

originally posted by: stardust22
a reply to: ketsuko

Do you think people will panic? Sometimes sheeples' ignorance really scares me...

The motto of this site is supposed to be "Deny Ignorance," and some of the fear I see here scares me. Take that fear and put it into the average idiot on the street. The media has done their work well.

Don't misunderstand me, Ebola is a nasty, frightening disease, but from the beginning, there have been things here suggesting it was airborne like a cold or flu when it's obviously not. Not yet, anyhow. Ebola is also very contagious, but that doesn't mean it's a as easy to catch as some make out either.

I think it's entirely possible that if Ebola comes and starts to spread there could be a panic. I think the worst case would be if it walks over the border and gets a foothold in the illegal or homeless community where it can spread underground and get quite far before our officials even fully realize what's going on a little like this enterovirus 68 that has cropped up.

Ebola would cause the same reaction it does anywhere.

Just answer this simple question:

If you become one of those contactees that his a suspected host because your roommate got it, would you volunteer for quarantine for three weeks with other potential victims?

Or run?

a reply to: stardust22
Stardust you will be fine do not worry. Ebola is a threat but our societys are built and have been formed to overcome, and overcome we will I assure you.

a reply to: stardust22

Yes but more likely because of illegal entry.
Thats what bothers me the most.
Someone entering legally is far more likely to be spotted.
But you could have 20 people all crammed in a container all crapping and peeing sharing water bottles and food.
If one has the runs and is been sick because of it you may as well say the other 19 will catch it.
Now imagine that happening several times a month.
Contact tracing will not stand a chance.

a reply to: xuenchen

azo's or bleach I am not allowed to say any more

a reply to: ketsuko

I think everyone (whether they admit it or not) gets scared. I personally think it's what you do with that fear is what counts. And (I like to think) that's what distinguishes me from another "average idiot on the street". A really good point, I'd not thought about the homeless and illegal communities...all sorts of illnesses must spread like wildfire between them. I think a lot of Western countries have the capability to handle things like this before it turns in to a pandemic...the question is, will they? I hope so...

a reply to: TechniXcality

I hope you're right

originally posted by: intrptr
Ebola would cause the same reaction it does anywhere.

Just answer this simple question:

If you become one of those contactees that his a suspected host because your roommate got it, would you volunteer for quarantine for three weeks with other potential victims?

Or run?

You observe a quarantine correctly and there should be very little risk to your or to others should you be the one who is ill. It's when you run and later turn up ill and infect everyone around you that problems happen.

Panic.

originally posted by: intrptr
Ebola would cause the same reaction it does anywhere.

Just answer this simple question:

If you become one of those contactees that his a suspected host because your roommate got it, would you volunteer for quarantine for three weeks with other potential victims?

Or run?

I'd like to think I'd run. I'd run far into the wilderness and just wait it out. And if I began to show symptoms? I'd immediately cover myself as best as possible, and go straight to an ER, warning them ahead of time to expect me.

a reply to: ketsuko

Thats another problem lots of people are forced to go to work to pay mortgages and stuff unless they are at deaths door.

So until we know it has taken hold and people are advised to stay at home you will find people taking paracetamol at the initial symptoms and going into work.

In the 1950's and 1960's, they used to talk about Nuclear War with the exact same title. "Now is the time to prepare".

The western media is telling everyone that Ebola is only transmitted by fluid transfer, but African doctors have said that you only have to be in the same room as an infected patient.

The only way to prepare for Ebola is to isolate yourself, far away from human population centers.

Newest numbers out of Western Africa say the infection rate will be in the "100's of thousands" within a few weeks.

It's only a matter of time before it escapes Western Africa. It's not a matter of if it escapes, but WHEN.

Meanwhile, hundreds of children in North America have been infected with a mysterious breathing ailment. Doctors in Western Canada are saying they've seen a massive spike in cases and don't have a treatment. And that's been hardly reported on the news, and is right in your back yard, going after your KIDS.