Photo Credit: Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
By SOMINI SENGUPTA.
Schools have shut down, elections have been postponed, mining and logging companies have withdrawn, farmers have abandoned their fields. The Ebola virus ravaging West Africa has renewed the risk of political instability in a region barely recovering from civil war, United Nations officials said Tuesday, hours after the World Health Organization reported that new cases could reach 10,000 a week by December — 10 times the current rate.
The head of the new Ebola Emergency Response Mission, Anthony Banbury, told the Security Council that none of the three most heavily affected countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — is adequately prepared. Only 4,300 treatment beds will be available by Dec. 1, according to current projections, and even those would not have an adequate number of staff members. The acceleration of new cases, if not curbed, could easily overwhelm them.
Mr. Banbury painted a picture of substantial need. Only 50 safe-burial teams are on the ground, he said, but 500 are required. They need protective gear and about a thousand vehicles. So far, Mr. Banbury said, the mission has delivered 69 vehicles.
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Photo Credit: RicochetCDC, Rife with Political Correctness, Founders in Face of Real Crisis
By Paul A. Rahe.
I have lived long enough, now, to have seen it again and again. Something goes badly wrong involving a corporation, a university, a religious denomination, or a branch of government, and the executive in charge or a designated minion goes before the press to engage in what is euphemistically called “damage control.” The spokesman does not level with the public. He or she tries to be reassuring and — more often than not — by lying, succeeds in undermining confidence in the institution he or she represents.
This is what is now going on with the Centers for Disease Control. In recent years, this well-respected outfit has branched out, opining in a politically correct manner on one issue after another outside its proper remit. Now it is faced with a matter absolutely central to its responsibilities — actual disease control — and it flips and flops and flounders because the ultimate boss, the President of the United States, cannot bring himself to put limits on contacts between Americans and the citizens of the countries in Africa where there is an Ebola epidemic.
There is only one way to prevent the spread of an epidemic, and that is quarantine. No medical professional with any sense would suggest that we should admit individuals from Liberia to the United States at this time, and no medical professional worth his or her salt would say that we can test for the disease when the prospective visitor arrives at Immigration and Passport Control. Like most diseases, Ebola has an incubation period. Early on, there are no symptoms: none at all. There is no reliable way to tell whether those arriving at our ports of entry have contracted the disease or not. If we do not want it coming here, for a time, we have to keep everyone out who has been in that neck of the woods.
And what are we told by the authorities? That cutting off contact would contribute to the spread of the epidemic. “Just how?” we are entitled to ask. But no explanation is given because, of course, there is none. We were also told that the disease would not come here. And, when it did come here, we were told that it could easily be contained. And, when it was not contained and a medical professional wearing all the proper gear came down with the disease, we were told that he did not follow the protocol.
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Photo Credit: Mohammed Elshamy / Anadolu Agency / Getty Ebola death rate up to 70pc – World Health Organisation
The death rate in the current Ebola outbreak has increased to 70pc, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official has said.
WHO assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward said the 70pc death rate marked “a high mortality disease” in any circumstance.
He added that the UN health agency is still focused on trying to isolate sick people and provide treatment as early as possible.
Previously, the WHO had said the death rate was around 50pc.
The announcement came as an international member of the United Nations’ medical team who was infected with Ebola in Liberia has died despite “intensive medical procedures”, a German hospital said.
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Photo Credit: U.S. Army Africa Lt. Col. Michael IndovinaGeneral Says No Soldiers Have Asked Out of Ebola Deployments
By Richard Sisk.
The Army will stick to the plan to begin ramping up deployments to West Africa later this month despite concerns expressed by top health officials about increased risk to soldiers, Gen. Dan Allyn, the new Army vice chief of staff, said Monday.
“We’ve been taking an aggressive stance” in preparing units slated to deploy in terms of training and equipment, Allyn said, including “aggressively communicating” to families of the troops the steps taken by the Army to mitigate the risks.
To date, there have been no instances of soldiers refusing to deploy to West Africa or asking to be removed from the lists slated for deployment. “Absolutely not,” Allyn said, stressing that the troops “will not be in direct contact” with Ebola victims or those suspected of having contracted the virus.
About 450 troops, including 100 Marines from a Marine Air-Ground Task Force based in Moron, Spain, were currently on the ground in West Africa. Most of the troops were in Liberia to assist local authorities and prepare for the eventual deployment of up to 4,000 troops to contain the spread of the virus that has hit hardest in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
Headquarters elements of the 101st Airborne Division led by Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, the division commander, and specialized units of combat engineers, military police and nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialists were expected to begin moving to West Africa in late October.
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