Ebola

[quote]BeefEater wrote:

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:
Cleveland schools close over Ebola concerns.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cleveland-area-schools-cancel-classes-over-ebola-concerns/ar-BB9nPeS[/quote]

I didn’t read this as a bad thing but rather as a group of people who are finally taking some precautionary measures to head off any possible outbreaks instead of going about business as usual in the hopes that nothing happens, then finding themselves behind the 8 ball when it does. The headlines make it sound like a bad situation but in reality it is probably the best way they can handle it.[/quote]

In this case I see it as a wise decision, plus once parents get wind of a teacher exposed to ebola, they’d keep the kids home and more of a stink would be raised if the school was to remain open.

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:

[quote]BeefEater wrote:

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:
Cleveland schools close over Ebola concerns.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cleveland-area-schools-cancel-classes-over-ebola-concerns/ar-BB9nPeS[/quote]

I didn’t read this as a bad thing but rather as a group of people who are finally taking some precautionary measures to head off any possible outbreaks instead of going about business as usual in the hopes that nothing happens, then finding themselves behind the 8 ball when it does. The headlines make it sound like a bad situation but in reality it is probably the best way they can handle it.[/quote]

In this case I see it as a wise decision, plus once parents get wind of a teacher exposed to ebola, they’d keep the kids home and more of a stink would be raised if the school was to remain open.[/quote]

Yes indeed. Local people making prudent decision. Note the lack of federal (read CDC) involvement. If Ebola showed up in CLE and it could be traced back to Dallas, would there be any accountability by the government? Or course not. This shows why they are liar, disingenuous, and are nothing but political empty suits.

Well, lets hope this isn’t another one.

Suspected Ebola case at Yale University Hospital. Yale student who recently returned from Liberia.

I’ve been following all the Ebola news like an old lady with a police scanner, but this feels personal for me.

Assuming the case at Yale is just a false alarm and the student has the flu, it will be a good thing if this type of incident spurs people to take it seriously and prepare.

One of the best quotes so far -

“We cannot afford to look back at this point in history and say we could have done more.” - Rep. Fred Upton (R., Mich).

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:

[quote]BeefEater wrote:

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:
Cleveland schools close over Ebola concerns.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cleveland-area-schools-cancel-classes-over-ebola-concerns/ar-BB9nPeS[/quote]

I didn’t read this as a bad thing but rather as a group of people who are finally taking some precautionary measures to head off any possible outbreaks instead of going about business as usual in the hopes that nothing happens, then finding themselves behind the 8 ball when it does. The headlines make it sound like a bad situation but in reality it is probably the best way they can handle it.[/quote]

In this case I see it as a wise decision, plus once parents get wind of a teacher exposed to ebola, they’d keep the kids home and more of a stink would be raised if the school was to remain open.[/quote]

Yes indeed. Local people making prudent decision. Note the lack of federal (read CDC) involvement. If Ebola showed up in CLE and it could be traced back to Dallas, would there be any accountability by the government? Or course not. This shows why they are liar, disingenuous, and are nothing but political empty suits.
[/quote]

I always thought of the CDC as the mecca for figuring out what to do and how to contain something serious… but not any more. They have done nothing other than stepping on their dicks at every turn.

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:

I always thought of the CDC as the mecca for figuring out what to do and how to contain something serious… but not any more. They have done nothing other than stepping on their dicks at every turn.[/quote]

Hey, they just did a great study on why lesbians tend to be fat with the Ebola money. That’s an important priority.

[quote]EvenIfItsSushi wrote:

Not Pittbull.

[/quote]

Shame. Hard to believe there are two people just exactly like each other.

No, you are a liberal, spouting Obama Regime talking points.

Of course, I’d be embarrassed to call myself liberal, too.

That’s why you all have changed your names from “communist” to “liberal” to “progressive” and now “pragmatist.”

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:

Yes indeed. Local people making prudent decision. Note the lack of federal (read CDC) involvement. If Ebola showed up in CLE and it could be traced back to Dallas, would there be any accountability by the government? Or course not. This shows why they are liar, disingenuous, and are nothing but political empty suits.
[/quote]

Empty speculation. Has it shown up? Not yet. Possibly, but my money is on “no” until we see for sure. This sort of shit from otherwise intelligent people really pisses me off on a personal level. Those of you who’ve seen me around the boards for a while know that I’m not one to defend gov’t bureaucracy or other sorts of things. You also know that I have issues with the FDA and most other regulatory bodies as well.

You know what? THIS IS HOW DISEASES SPREAD. Look, outside of the travel ban debate, all of this is hindsight, #1. #2, there are ALWAYS going to be breakdowns. ALWAYS. There is no such thing as a perfect response from an entity that has never faced this problem before. We’ve never faced this before. I don’t want to hear any of this “but we’re the world leaders on research for it” or “we’re responding in Africa” (another debate topic). How many times have you seen it on the boards here and other places–you don’t know dick until you get off the bench and into the game firsthand. You don’t know how to design a good training program for a bodybuilder until you’ve done over and over and over. You don’t know the requirement–no matter how much you read–to squat 800 lbs until you’ve put yourself on the line for years to gain it. You don’t know the requirements for a truly elite quarterback until you have spent years on the gridiron playing in some capacity.

You don’t know the small details that will quite literally kill you until you have to deal with the situation on your home turf. Sad–tragic–and true.

Now I’m not going to go say that the CDC has made a great grand strategy work flawlessly (it hasn’t), there haven’t been huge mistakes made on all sides (there have), or that there aren’t some serious risks here (there are)…but I get absolutely irate when people who know absolutely nothing about biomedical science, research, infectious diseases let alone deadly ones like Ebola call scientists and experts in the field who have spent their whole lives working on stuff like this “empty suits, liars, disingenuous”. Save that shit for the politicians. That’s borderline conspiracy theory crap–you really think they want the disease to spread? Really??

My own analysis is somewhat more in line with DrSkeptix albeit slightly softened from his view (this is one of very few times I have not been a dyed in the wool pessimist). There’s plenty of criticism to go around for everybody from the hospital to the cleaners (the biggest of my criticisms, complete bullshit on them) to the CDC on the domestic response (not the international travel response).

There will be a handful of cases here. Quite simply, you don’t know what you’re missing until you step off the research sidelines and get into the ballgame. It’s life. It’s not pretty, and it has a casualty rate. But that is the only way you really “lock down” all the details you thought you remembered from reading and “consulting”. The more people panic the worse the hysteria becomes, and I’ve already noted a shitload of hysterical blogging about this.

Rant over.

[quote]EvenIfItsSushi wrote:

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

The Kepelle median/mode IQ is 67, which is right in the middle of “moderate” Downs’ Syndrome IQ for Westerners. This low IQ is pretty common for this particular shithole corner of a shithole continent. An Western average 100 IQ person is a fricking super genius there, with .1% of the people having that IQ.

In short, they are idiots and do idiotic things.[/quote]

This statement is so absolutely stupid.

How would you expect someone with crappy education to perform on an IQ test designed for someone with some education.

The issue here is lack of education not some inherent racial difference in intelligence.[/quote]

I can’t understand why people are so desperate to show biology plays no part. Just because a group of people due to genetics are(on average) less intelligent doesn’t mean that they are less worthy or less valuable as people. I judge people as individuals and I judge them by qualities such as “honesty” and “empathy” and so on.

The fact they are from an ethnic group that(on average) is not as intelligent or as physically strong or whatever is neither here nor there. People with Down’s syndrome are less intelligent due to genetic reasons but that does not mean I think they are lesser people.

[quote]EvenIfItsSushi wrote:

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

[quote]EvenIfItsSushi wrote:

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

The Kepelle median/mode IQ is 67, which is right in the middle of “moderate” Downs’ Syndrome IQ for Westerners. This low IQ is pretty common for this particular shithole corner of a shithole continent. An Western average 100 IQ person is a fricking super genius there, with .1% of the people having that IQ.

In short, they are idiots and do idiotic things.[/quote]

This statement is so absolutely stupid.

How would you expect someone with crappy education to perform on an IQ test designed for someone with some education.

The issue here is lack of education not some inherent racial difference in intelligence.[/quote]

#1 They used all sorts of IQ tests, including non-written ones. All pretty much come out the same.

#2 It’s not “racial,” despite what race-obsessed liberals like you think. There are lots of factors that go into intelligence, from hygiene, to prenatal care, to the fact that most women in Liberia have STDs that rot the brain of their kids. Regardless of the cause, the end result is an IQ of 67.

Seriously Pittbull, your liberal talking point bullshit is old and stupid.

I think you need to go on a fact-finding-tour of Liberia and figure it out. We’ll all chip in for a one-way-ticket to your paradise of Liberia.[/quote]

Not Pittbull. Also I’m not really a liberal more a pragmatist.

With respect to #1 I wonder how we would do on an IQ test devised by a Liberian villager? Are the skills required to live there different to those required to live in a western country?

Your point #2 was what I was getting at. Education level probably dominates that list though. Prenatal care and general nutrition level throughout childhood must be huge factors as well. Having said this… The statement ‘most women in Libera have STDs’… Is any reference for it?

Regardless the problem in Africa is largely (wilful) ignorance rather than low IQ. In other African countries where ebola is more common they manage quite well i.e. effective quarantine (see for example the other ebola outbreak that occurred this summer that is already over). Also some areas in the currently affected countries have managed to stop ebola spreading.

What scares me more right now is the complete inability of western countries to implement basic quarantine measures (i.e. letting that nurse get on a plane, washing the sick down a drain, sending the US patient 0 back home, the total clusterfuck that happened when some suspected patients turned up in hospitals in London recently, the fact that patients with suspected ebola are actually going to hospital rather than calling up and getting collected by people in full rubber suits, letting health workers return from afflicted regions and just mingle freely etc) the list goes on with a level of incompetence that staggers me.[/quote]

Agreeing with Sushi here, without contributing to a huge threadjack debating the IQ of the indigenous people - I’m a School Psychologist. You can’t make a lot of assumptions about the intelligence of a group of people who are so different from the normative sample for which these tests were designed. They are sooo different in terms of experience, culture, educational level, on and on.

AND you can get into a huge discussion about what defines intelligence, and abstract concept which very few people can agree on anyway, and the impact of biology and environmental factors. Is it the knowledge you have? Your ability to learn new information? Both? There are lots of studies and it’s a very complicated topic. Let’s not go there.


If you are interested in the history of Liberia, and the former slaves from the US who chose to go back there and try to found a democratic government based on the US constitution - and the huge coup that happened in 1980 and subsequent bloodbath, go read The House at Sugar Beach by Helen Cooper. Excellent read.

Back to Ebola news. It looks like the Yale grad student has tested negative. We’ll take it! Good test run for everybody there I’m sure.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/africa-stems-ebola-border-closings-luck-26249603

African countries appear to be closing their borders. I think if we talk about any borders needing to be sealed, it’s theirs.

[quote]Brett620 wrote:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/africa-stems-ebola-border-closings-luck-26249603

African countries appear to be closing their borders. I think if we talk about any borders needing to be sealed, it’s theirs.[/quote]

Many have been closed for a while. Those racists!

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

[quote]Brett620 wrote:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/africa-stems-ebola-border-closings-luck-26249603

African countries appear to be closing their borders. I think if we talk about any borders needing to be sealed, it’s theirs.[/quote]

Many have been closed for a while. Those racists![/quote]

Fuck 'em if they can’t take a joke…

[quote]beachguy498 wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

[quote]Brett620 wrote:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/africa-stems-ebola-border-closings-luck-26249603

African countries appear to be closing their borders. I think if we talk about any borders needing to be sealed, it’s theirs.[/quote]

Many have been closed for a while. Those racists![/quote]

Fuck 'em if they can’t take a joke…
[/quote]

Hahaha!

New story coming out, man from Lagos dies on airline flight to JFK after vomiting extensively. After a “cursory” exam declared no ebola. Nydaily reports.

This is a huge fucking mistake. Whoever wants to thrash the CDC rep is more than welcome…this is unbelievable. I am personally trying to wait until I find out the details of said cursory exam and how they determined this outcome with certainty so fast, but based on what has come out so far it appears massive negligence on the officials part.

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
New story coming out, man from Lagos dies on airline flight to JFK after vomiting extensively. After a “cursory” exam declared no ebola. Nydaily reports.

This is a huge fucking mistake. Whoever wants to thrash the CDC rep is more than welcome…this is unbelievable. I am personally trying to wait until I find out the details of said cursory exam and how they determined this outcome with certainty so fast, but based on what has come out so far it appears massive negligence on the officials part. [/quote]

Holy shit. I hope there is an airtight reason for how they made this decision so quickly (i.e. overdose or choked on something) but I cannot understand why they would rush this sort of situation. It is unconscionable.

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
New story coming out, man from Lagos dies on airline flight to JFK after vomiting extensively. After a “cursory” exam declared no ebola. Nydaily reports.

This is a huge fucking mistake. Whoever wants to thrash the CDC rep is more than welcome…this is unbelievable. I am personally trying to wait until I find out the details of said cursory exam and how they determined this outcome with certainty so fast, but based on what has come out so far it appears massive negligence on the officials part. [/quote]

While the outbreak in Nigeria seems to be contained, this recent analysis raises some concerns:

E.B.O.L.A.

Enjoy
Barack
Obama’s
Legacy
America

Well… they don’t serve meals any more on flights, but it still may have been a peanut-allergy reaction… yeah, that’s it…

This situation is very difficult to assess. I’m certainly an Obama critic, but this rhetoric that the president “Gave America Ebola” is absurd. I heard some guy on talk radio the other day screaming at the top of his lungs that Obama inflicted a plague on our country. This hysteria really is not helpful. I think the problem is the administration is not being forthcoming because they don’t want to fuel panic. I actually don’t think it’s as political as some may say.

How bad is it? I’m not sure, but I think some of this misinformation stems from trying to blunt public panic. But on the other hand, I don’t think a travel band would feed into that panic. If anything, it would breed confidence in that the administration is being proactive.

Am I being naive here? I just can’t admit that politics would trump public safety when facing a potential epidemic.