Discussion for article #230350
No one ever gave a shit about Ebola. It was thought an effective ploy to slam Obama for not doing anything about it. Of course he couldnât but it worked as election bull shit. The election went by and no more Ebola. It fell off the political map. It was never a serious medical issue.
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I hope a corner has been turned and that Liberians can contaon this horrible affliction. Yet other problems will remain. The disease has badly damaged the economy there and that will remain for a long time because of peoples imperfect impressions about anything from West Africa (thanks to the GOP and their fear mongering).
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because GOP Senate majority! </stupid>
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Ummm it was avery serious issue for the more than 5000 people who died and the 15,000 who are still attempting to recover.
Jeeze guy, have a heart.
Yes the GOP and others over reacted and used that fear in the election. They have no ethicsâŚwe know that. But it is true that Ebola has been studied for over 40 years and health care people from here helped folks there and then came home to no publicity at all ⌠until now. It was a heartless cruel political ploy for sure.
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Wow. Uh, yeah it was a serious medical issue. Very serious.
The politics were ridiculous. One should be able to see those are to disparate things.
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I was not speaking of it in those terms. I was speaking of it in terms of its bastardization in the USA. It was never a serious threat to America but claim to that was made for political reasons.
As for Africa thatâs a different matter. Itâs a serious thing over there but American political bullshit put the quieetis on our expertise going there to assist. GOPâers Govâs and an idiotic Dem one too made political hay of our medical professionals that went there to help ( to âfight it over there so we donât have to fight it hereâ but if thatâs not working politically just flip the fuck flop on the philosophy ). Africa suffered because American politicians care only about their political lives and not the human ones victim to that virus.
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BbbbbbbbuttttâŚFOX Spews!!!
Before the election: " âYouâre all gonnaâ die in there!â Obummerâs fault!..Immigrants are going to bring it in! Itâs the ISIS of biological disasters! Itâs the end of the worldâŚgarble, garble, garbleâŚ"
After the election: FOX ~crickets!~
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The Liberians owe it all to Rick Perry, Ebola Slayer.
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I guess the GOP/Teatrolls and their puppetmasters turned off the Ebola machines now that the election is overâŚ
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What needs to be watched / tracked - does Big Pharma continue with research and testing for a vaccine. If not, this will come back to bite the world in a big way.
I take this as good news - although there are moments of hysteria by some sites. Click bait?
I expect Congress to issue a proclamation thanking President Obama for his quick response in sending our military to help out. In fact, my neighbor just returned home last night after a stint in Africa building an airport and medical facilities to help in this crisis.
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GOP tOUGH taLK on EBOLA conquereD eBOLA. Where WERE the LIBtards? oh, YEa, NOT beING tough ON EBOLA. NO wONDer LIBtards LOSt big1!!1!!!one!!1!!!
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The republicans response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa was EXACTLY the same as it was to the ACA. Die quickly. They do not believe there is any value to having poor or minority people living healthy robust lives. Health is for the rich. The republicans acted just like republicans: Selfish, Cruel, Arrogant and Miserly. Sons-of-bitches all.
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Just one small point: Almost all the comments so far have complained about republicans making Ebola political ⌠in other words, a feeding frenzy on an important, completely apolitical story.
By no means equivalence, but worth noting how the frenzy machine feeds itself.
And yet Gallup says that Ebola is one of Americansâ top three health concern (at 17%). Most of the diseases that actually kill tens of thousands of Americans each year rank lower. Diabetes and heart disease are in the low single digits (2% each). Americans sure have their priorities in order.
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No surprises. Remember bird flu? SARS? They were all expected to spiral out of control and take over the world. Meanwhile malaria, dengue and others continue to kill people and TB is drug resistant in much of the world.
This was actually hinted at two weeks ago on Fresh Air. Terry Gross was interviewing a NYT correspondent who had grown up in Liberia and she said that when she was there, which would have been about a week earlier yet, that there were fewer people coming into the clinics and that there were empty beds that had previously been occupied by the sick or dying.
Sadly enough, I heard a piece last week on KPLU, one of our local NPR stations in Seattle, about what a challenge and expense it is for all the small regional hospitals, primarily in Eastern Washington, to be preparing to handle Ebola cases. Either these hospitals are run by the stupidest or shrewdest (milking the feds for funds) administors in the business as the likelihood that any of them will ever have to deal even with a single person with the disease is nil.
Who knew, the cure for Ebola is only getting past an election. If we had a real national emergency and the elections would have been postponed, until say, next Tuesday, then we would still have an Ebola crisis until next Wednesday.
It works for ISIL also too and probably lots of scary stuff. Ebola is like a Thermos, it can go either way.
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I think this is oversimplified a bit. Yes, things have improved markedly in Liberia - public awareness has been key (as has the help that has been coming in), as Ebola is a disease that depends quite heavily upon changeable human behavior to spread. Itâs incredibly infectious, but as many have said, not all that contagious.
Sierra Leone, by contrast, is in serious trouble, and the epidemic is nowhere near under control there.
But really, itâs quite probable that the initial models overestimated the ability of the virus to spread within the time frames modeled, based upon what it had done up to that point. Data all along has been extremely sketchy, and that may have fueled model outcomes that were quite a bit more grim than have come to pass at this point.
Thatâs NOT to say that EVD couldnât still become a pandemic, or is a problem that we can now ignore. Until the last suspected case is cleared and the last affected country is declared Ebola free, it remains a threat to the affected countries and elsewhere.