The Report From Those Who Are Actually Handling The Crisis

Yesterday the U.K. Telegraph posted a story about American nurses saying that they are unprepared to deal with an outbreak of the Ebola virus in America.

The article reports:

The warning comes after it emerged Thomas Eric Duncan, the country’s first case, had told health workers he had recently been in Liberia yet was still sent home from a hospital in Texas with nothing more than painkillers and antibiotics.

However, health officials insist that American hospitals are ready for such patients and on Friday White House advisers tried to reassure the nation that an outbreak was extremely unlikely.

Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, said: “The United States is prepared to deal with this crisis, both at home and in the region.

“Every Ebola outbreak in the past 40 years has been stopped. We know how to do this and we will do it again.”

That may be true, but there was another story out of Dallas today that was not very reassuring. CBS News in Dallas reported today Dallas officials had located a homeless man who may have had contact with Eric Duncan before he was hospitalized. Mr. Duncan was released from the emergency room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital when he first went there with the symptoms of Ebola. He told the Hospital that he had recently arrived from West Africa, but somehow that information was not relayed, and he was released. Now Dallas health authorities have to figure out who he had contact with before he was finally admitted, and they have to monitor those people for symptoms. Releasing Mr. Duncan was a rather serious mistake that may have severe consequences.

The U.K Telegraph reported:

A survey by the National Nurses United union across 31 states found 80 per cent of respondents said their hospital had no Ebola admissions policy and 30 per cent said they lacked proper protective equipment.

This is not the time to panic, but it is the time to be aware of the people around you and make sure to practice common sense health habits like washing your hands frequently. In a month or so, we will know where we stand with Ebola. Until then, we just need to be careful.