The first case of Ebola was diagnosed in Texas. The patient arrived from Liberia on September 20 and was reportedly not sick during the flight.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) head Dr. Thomas Frieden assured the public that there was “zero chance” the now hospitalized patient infected others during the flight to the U.S. because the virus is spread from bodily fluids from a sick person.
There are two things certain at this point: the patient eluded Obama’s plan to stop the Ebola virus from coming to the U.S. because his plan involves screening for sick individuals and the president’s assessment that it’s “unlikely” Ebola would “reach our shores” was wrong.
The Daily Mail reported on President Obama’s speech on Ebola at the CDC earlier this month.
‘First and foremost, I want the American people to know that our experts, here at the CDC and across our government, agree that the chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low. We’ve been taking the necessary precautions, including working with countries in West Africa to increase screening at airports so that someone with the virus doesn’t get on a plane for the United States. In the unlikely event that someone with Ebola does reach our shores, we’ve taken new measures so that we’re prepared here at home. We’re working to help flight crews identify people who are sick, and more labs across our country now have the capacity to quickly test for the virus. We’re working with hospitals to make sure that they are prepared, and to ensure that our doctors, our nurses and our medical staff are trained, are ready, and are able to deal with a possible case safely.
Let’s hope the CDC can rise above some of its recent mistakes I described in an earlier post and successfully meet the threat posed by Ebola.
