"She will be taken to a local hospital for additional medical evaluation or treatment as needed,” “Once she has been transported the station will be cleaned and put back in service."


yes people are being taken away...the lab tech worker on the carnival cruise is "asymtomatic" for ebola but she has been taken away for observation

update: the lab tech and her travel partner were allowed to leave the cruise ship with no restrictions This morning, the Galveston County Health Authority has made the assessment that there is no evidence of a public health threat to cruise passengers or to Galveston County. The passenger and her travel partner have been allowed to disembark without restrictions. The public health assessment is based on the fact the person was confirmed to have
remained asymptomatic and reassurance provided by Department of State Health Services lab testing.

Emory Healthcare has put up a website with their Ebola Preparedness guidelines. http://www.emoryhealthcare.org/ebola...c-message.html

As you all probably recall, Emory is one of the four U.S. hospitals with a special isolation unit. They have treated four patients with ebola so far.

CDC to revise Ebola protocol, Pentagon preps team

By MIKE STOBBE

ATLANTA (AP) — Revised guidance for health care workers treating Ebola patients will include using protective gear "with no skin showing," a top federal health official said Sunday, and the Pentagon announced it was forming a team to assist medical staff in the U.S., if needed.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said those caring for an Ebola patient in Dallas were vulnerable because some of their skin was exposed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on revisions to safety protocols. Earlier ones, he said, were based on a World Health Organization model in which care was given in more remote places, often outdoors, and without intensive training for health workers.

"So there were parts about that protocol that left vulnerability, parts of the skin that were open," Fauci said.

The CDC guidance was expected as early as Saturday, but its release has been pushed back while it continues to go through review by experts and government officials.

Health officials had previously allowed hospitals some flexibility to use available covering when dealing with suspected Ebola patients. The new guidelines are expected to set a firmer standard: calling for full-body suits and hoods that protect worker's necks, setting rigorous rules for removal of equipment and disinfection of hands, and calling for a "site manager" to supervise the putting on and taking off of equipment.

The guidelines are also expected to require a "buddy system," in which workers check each other as they come in and go out, according to an official who was familiar with the guidelines but not authorized to discuss them before their release.

Hospital workers also will be expected to exhaustively practice getting in and out of the equipment, the official said.

Said Fauci: "Very clearly, when you go into a hospital, have to intubate somebody, have all of the body fluids, you've got to be completely covered. So that's going to be one of the things ... to be complete covering with no skin showing whatsoever."

The American Nurses Association and other groups have called for better guidance that sets clearer standards on what kind of equipment, how to put it on and how to take it off.

"We're disappointed that the recommendations are still not available," association president Pamela Cipriano said. "Having a lag in official direction from the CDC doesn't instill the greatest confidence in their ability to rapidly respond."

Cipriano said she understands the guidance will also include a call for anterooms, apart from the patient room, where protective equipment must be put on and taken off.

The push stems from the infection of two nurses at a Dallas hospital who treated an Ebola-infected patient named Thomas Eric Duncan — the first person diagnosed with the virus in the U.S.

The nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, were diagnosed with Ebola less than a week later. Officials say how they were infected remains a mystery.

Duncan's medical records, provided by his family to The Associated Press, show Pham first encountered the patient after he was moved to intensive care at 4:40 p.m. on Sept. 29, more than 30 hours after he came to the ER. Nearly 27 hours later, Vinson first appears in Duncan's charts.

In Pham's first entry, she makes no mention of protective gear — although doctors and nurses may not always note their own safeguards in medical records, since they are focused on logging the patient's care. When she logged again the following morning, she mentioned wearing a double gown, face shield and protective footwear — equipment she mentioned again in later entries.

In the first apparent mention of Vinson, she is said to have worn personal protection, including a hazardous-materials suit and face shield. Hospital officials have said masks that cover the nose and mouth were optional, consistent with CDC guidelines at the time. The CDC later advised leg covers and isolation suits, and the hospital complied, Texas Health Presbyterian officials said.

Nurses have voiced concern that they have never cared for Ebola patients before and feel unprepared and underequipped. "If hospital administrators had to take care of Ebola patients, they would have the gold standard and hazmat suits," said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, a union with 185,000 members.

http://news.yahoo.com/fauci-protocol...-politics.html

Something I’m starting to wonder about in all of this is the money. I see where Obama is asking for funding, all well and good and predictable and will be much needed by municipalities, hospital, and other agencies. My question is more toward individuals. For one, I see that some people are self-monitoring with paid leave and others are simply losing three weeks of income. For a lot of people, especially those who live paycheck to paycheck this could be devastating. Will we start seeing one person who got on an airplane (or whatever) seeking repayment from someone who was sick? Or better yet, not sick but suspected of being sick?

Much larger than that of course is the fact that the US does not have single payer healthcare but individual coverages. And we all know how much insurance companies love to find ways to not cover things. Anyone who gets this or even just has to be put in isolation for a while is going to rack up HUGE bills. The amount of money involved in bio-containment is amazing. I wonder if the annual OOP maximums will hold up? There is also the tremendous staffing required, 10-25 staff for one patient instead of half a dozen caring for multiple patients. I wonder how that 10-50% coinsurance is going to work out…?

I personally believe this will stay controlled in first world countries and hope I am right. But these expenses are incurred for a while at least even for people who will ultimately test negative for it during their time period of waiting to find out. Most of this abundance of precaution is good, although some may be over the top, but ultimately someone has to pay for it.

in response to kelts post and as someone who lives in dallas county i am very worried about my tax bill....

Just in on CNN...

A Doctor in New York has begun to run a fever and present symptoms of Ebola, and has been taken to Bellvue Hospital which is one of 8 hospitals in New York that have been running drills.

The Doctor returned recently from Africa, and as late as last night was out bowling. His girlfriend has been put in isolation as well pending diagnosis.

West Africa Travel Restrictions being routed to certain designated airports in the US to curb Ebola outbreaks according to ABC World News: Travel Restrictions

The doctor in New York does indeed have Ebola.

When he called and the paramedics in hazmat suits picked him up, he had a 103* fever, and had been experiencing symptoms for several days.

He did not follow any type of self-quarantine proceedures. One man, several days, now someone will have to pay for all of the work to trace all of his contacts since returning to the states.

Updates on Ebola 10-24-14 10:25 pm
 

A healthcare worker, returning from West Africa, has been quarantined for testing after running a fever a couple hours after her temperature was checked at the airport in New Jersey.

New York and New Jersey Governor's are now calling for ALL travelers from West Africa orgins that have been in contact with Ebola patients are to be put into quarantined for 21 days upon arrival to the US.This comes after the doctor that tested positive for Ebola in NY was allowed to freely travel around the city.
The CDC is tracking the doctor's movements to anyone that came into contact with him after his arrival to the US.

The first nurse, Nina Pham, is now testing free of Ebola and has returned to North Texas tonight. The 2nd nurse, Amber Vinson, is still testing free of Ebola but has yet to be released from quarantine. Nina Pham's dog, Bentley, is still testing positive for Ebola and is being well cared for by Texas A & M veterinarians. He is not yet going to be released from quarantine.

I am starting to think it might be wise for all travelers who have been in contact with Ebola victims to be quarantined for 21 days upon return to the U.S. Probably the healthcare workers who travel with Doctors Without Borders will comply, but will other people? 21 days could be so inconvenient that many people will just lie about whether they have been around friends or family who have Ebola.

If we revisit the idea of quarantining everyone (not just those who admit to having contact) who travels from the three high crisis countries in West Africa, people can just travel through other countries (although it seems we ought to be able to verify all travel itineraries for anyone who arrives in the U.S. - I don't understand why this is difficult, or at least 99% of all travel itineraries. Doesn't the U.S. require travel visas for everyone who is not a U.S. citizen coming from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia? It seems all those people's names should be in a computer somewhere.) Of course, who is going to pay for all this quarantining, and where could we even put that many people? These are some of the same questions that have been raised all along, but it's looking as though we may have to consider some of the more restrictive measures that have been suggested.