Back on subject
I think the flight from Clev to Dallas will be very telling. If nobody from the flight gets sick than I dont believe we will have a problem in this country.
If people do come down with it than I believe this virus is much easier to catch than we are being led on.. I dont think that will be the case though. I aint worried yet. I have two employees at that hospital who are a bit freaked out though. :0008
Gibber - I agree with this - but it is not just the original flight from Clev to Dallas, but also the 5 flights that occurred on that same plan afterwards where the virus could still be alive and be on an armrest for example (which I thought I read was possible).
So many questions remain though: why did the CDC director call out the nurse Vinson and say "she shouldn't have been flying on a commercial plane" and then have the truth come out the next day that she did the responsible thing and contacted the CDC and asked them if she could fly. Basically, the CDC outright lied and tried to pass the blame here.
I believe that our government would be having a considerably different response (including banning air travel) IF this was occuring in April of this year, rather than 2 weeks before mid-terms elections. I think there is much more emphasis right now on posturing that this is no big deal and we won't take drastic measures (like banning air travel). The current administration is extremely paranoid about controlling the message - more so than past administrations. It is not the most transparent admin as they claim to be.
Those posters that made the argument that Obama wants this to happen and has planned this are just being dumb. This is the worst thing that could happen to Obama and the Dems, and they are fighting hard to minimize the impact on mid-terms. Seems like a horrible view to take, but that is politics these days.
Finally, until we totally ban air travel from anyone coming from that region, I see this as getting worse and worse. Why? Imagine if you are over in that region and have the economic means to pay for an airplane ticket. I'm sure a number of those folks fear they have had contact (whether true or not) with the virus. What would you do in that instance? You would book a flight to the US and try to get here before you are symptomatic. You know you have anywhere from 2-21 days. You know the healthcare systems here are the best (or close to it) in the world. And you know that we welcome anyone in our country with open arms. Of course you are going to try to make it to the US for potential treatment, if you have the means to get here.
Case in point - how many cases are we hearing of that are going to Norway or Sweden or even Great Britian? Is it healthcare systems there, or are those countries not allowing West Africans in?
Seems our biggest mistake was not shutting down air travel immediately, IMHO. But political timing is playing a big role in this, as I said before. If this had occured back in April, we probably wouldn't have allowed folks from West Africa into our country.
It may be in our country's interest for another Ebola patient to fly over to the US. That would likely be the straw the broke the camel's back. I would anticipate, if this does occur, that travel will get shut down. But not by our government - but by the airlines themselves. Think of the impact on Frontier Airlines (a rather small one in the US). Would you take the chance of flying them now - knowing you could be on "the plane"? Airline stocks are going in the crapper right now - and if a Delta/United/American get hit with a case of this, they won't be able to stomach having the shares nosedive. And the government is probably hoping it occurs in this manner - so they won't get the blame, but then they can pass on the blame to the airlines.
This is all political, given the timing. And that is wrong. It should be about protecting our citizens first, at all costs. That is the government's primary job - to protect the US from all threats, both foreign and domestic. This surely falls into the "foreign threat" department.
JMHO. Flame away if you must.
