Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Oz Slams Door, Media Pissed



Try reading the straight facts here, then go to the Reuters link to see what the full story looks like when you editorialize all over the front page.
(Reuters) - Australia issued a blanket ban on visas from West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak. Australia has recorded a number of scares.The decision to refuse entry for anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, was [explained] by the government as a necessary safety precaution.
"The government has strong controls for the entry of persons to Australia under our immigration programme from West Africa," Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told parliament on Monday.
"These measures include temporarily suspending our immigration programme, including our humanitarian programme from Ebola-affected countries, and this means we are not processing any application from these affected countries."
All non-permanent or temporary visas were being cancelled and permanent visa holders who had not yet arrived in Australia will be required to submit to a 21-day quarantine period, he added.

Meanwhile, back home, MD officials have reported another possible US case, and they're hiding the details because it would obviously become politically sticky to admit they've either got another travelers from one of the Big Three afflicted countries bringing the disease here, or another careless do-gooder dilettante doing the same thing.

A Maryland hospital has received a potential Ebola patient, a facility spokeswoman said.A patient was transferred to University of Maryland Medical Center at the request of state health officials and was being treated in isolation, a spokeswoman said Monday night.
The spokeswoman would not say where the patient was transferred from or whether they had recently arrived in the country. Maryland announced Monday plans to quarantine and ban from public transit those who travel to the state from three West African countries where Ebola continues to spread.

The only possible reason to withhold basic details is to prevent people from finding out that "official policy" has let another infected person roam and wander their area at will with the full connivance of government authorities ostensibly responsible for ensuring such doesn't happen. It might even underline, as Thomas Duncan's arrival did, that the so-called "screening" measures are completely ineffective, and merely a sop of security theatre to placate the easily-bamboozled who barely glance at the news between consuming their bread and circuses.
And the so-called "ban on public transit" is a completely unmonitored and unenforceable policy of asking, pretty please, that people under imaginary quarantine kindly not create additional panic by traipsing all over town on busses and such when, with a tedious regularity, they suddenly show symptoms of Ebola, causing the local health officials to have to scrape egg off their faces before furiously running hither and yon to track down all the new secondary exposures. Like in New York City.

Well-done, Maryland. President Obola approves.
The sheep there are truly fortunate to have such dedicated shepherds.

2 comments:

Bezzle said...

"There is no way you can prepare for it. The goal should be to protect your hospital from it."

http://junkscience.com/2014/10/27/louis-profeta-writes-a-great-essay-on-infectious-disease/

Grouch, MD said...

I am intrigued that they did not post the details. Perhaps the patient has it---and didn't travel to west Africa? Hmm….but she did rub hands with that shady-looking middle eastern guy who smiled and said something like "all-ah ak-bar".