I told you earlier that NGOs, WHO, and the CDC had basically written off Sierra Leone three weeks ago, admitting they could never get ahead of the outbreak, and making the decision to distribute home health care kits ("Family Ebola-Spreading Kits") because they'd never be able to create enough treatment centers to accommodate and isolate the victims.
Now, a representative of MSF/DWB is saying there are more dead just in Sierra Leone, than the current reported total of Ebola deaths worldwide.
(For reference, Sierra Leone currently reports 1500 deaths, and the world case total is 13,703.)
"Whole communities have disappeared..."
Barcelona (AFP) - Ebola has wiped out whole villages in Sierra Leone and may have caused many more deaths than the nearly 5,000 official global toll, a senior coordinator of the medical aid group MSF said Friday.
Rony Zachariah of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said after visiting Sierra Leone that the Ebola figures were "under-reported", in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of a medical conference in Barcelona."The situation is catastrophic. There are several villages and communities that have been basically wiped out. In one of the villages I went to, there were 40 inhabitants and 39 died," he said.The World Health Organization (WHO) published revised figures on Friday showing 4,951 people have died of Ebola and there was a total of 13,567 reported cases."The WHO says there is a correction factor of 2.5, so maybe it is 2.5 times higher and maybe that is not far from the truth. It could be 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000," said Zachariah.He stressed that "whole communities have disappeared but many of them are not in the statistics. The situation on the ground is actually much worse."
We're not going to stop Ebola over there. The possibility is long past. That option is toast. And very shortly, the afflicted countries will be too.
"The Story Changes: Ebola Is Now "Aerostable" And Can Remain On Surfaces For 50 Days"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-31/story-changes-ebola-now-aerostable-and-can-remain-surfaces-50-days
"(For reference, Sierra Leone currently reports 1500 deaths, and the world total is 13,703.)"
ReplyDeleteDid you make a mistake with the numbers - is 13,703 the total deaths or total cases?
West Africa is lost, and has been for months.
ReplyDeleteAESOP
ReplyDeleteSNAFU, a blog listed on your site, might be in agreement with me. I said it was about building permanent military bases, he says it is about a resource war...
From SNAFU!
I'm calling it. Africa is going to be a battlefield...the rush for resources has started.
via Shepherd of the Gurneys...
Now, a representative of MSF/DWB is saying there are more dead just in Sierra Leone, than the current reported total of Ebola deaths worldwide.
(For reference, Sierra Leone currently reports 1500 deaths, and the world total is 13,703.)
Barcelona (AFP) - Ebola has wiped out whole villages in Sierra Leone and may have caused many more deaths than the nearly 5,000 official global toll, a senior coordinator of the medical aid group MSF said Friday.
Rony Zachariah of Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said after visiting Sierra Leone that the Ebola figures were "under-reported", in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of a medical conference in Barcelona.
"The situation is catastrophic. There are several villages and communities that have been basically wiped out. In one of the villages I went to, there were 40 inhabitants and 39 died," he said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published revised figures on Friday showing 4,951 people have died of Ebola and there was a total of 13,567 reported cases.
"The WHO says there is a correction factor of 2.5, so maybe it is 2.5 times higher and maybe that is not far from the truth. It could be 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000," said Zachariah.
He stressed that "whole communities have disappeared but many of them are not in the statistics. The situation on the ground is actually much worse.""Whole communities have disappeared..."
We're not going to stop Ebola over there. The possibility is long past. That option is toast. And very shortly, the afflicted countries will be too.
Do you get the force of connection here?
Consider. The UK sent a force to Sierra Leone. We have heard jack squat from them since their arrival.
Consider. The US has sent the 101st to Liberia. We have heard jack squat from them.
If we're seeing this type of stuff from open source materials then those in charge have much better visibility. Remember. Our UN Representative just left that region and is now back.
I'm calling it. Africa is going to be a battlefield. A disease has removed the thorny issue of what to do with the indigenous people and now the race for resources is on.
The only question is whether China feels confident enough to stop a power play by the US and Western European powers.
1) You possibly didn't realize that Shepherd Of The Gurneys is my nursing blog?
ReplyDeleteOr notice that that precise article is the same one you're commenting on?
2) The British are pissing on a forest fire in Sierra Leone, because former British colony; we're pissing on a forest fire in Liberia, because colony of former US slaves freed and returned to Africa.
3) Considering how much worse the disease epidemic is going to get in the next 6 months in both countries, sending troops there now is like sending firemen into the World Trade Center after the jet impact to "secure the resources of the building".
If you haven't seen that movie, it ends poorly for the firemen. Precisely as it will for the troops.
4) Considering what will inevitably happen there when Ebola gets to 50% of the population of any of those three countries (if not long before), and perpetually afterwards, sending troops later on to "secure resources" will be the rough equivalent of sending troops to Chernobyl to secure its "resources".
5) With all due respect to Solomon, this isn't a "war for resources", any more than Iraq was a "war for oil". (Gas is how much per gallon now, vs. in 2008, or 2002?)
It's a president who's never served, hates the US military, and views them as nothing but disposable pawns, useful only to buff his reputation, and appear like we're "doing something", when in fact we're doing worse than nothing.(Benghazi ring a bell? The bin Laden Raid? Who ignored one, and hogged all the credit for the other??)
The Entire Military Effort In West Africa Is An Empty And Worthless P.R. Gesture. Period.
6) You haven't heard anything, because they're building shitty little temp hospitals, no one has attacked them, and none of our guys have contracted Ebola yet, mirabile dictu. The media is loathe to actually go to a plague zone, because it's full of icky sick people; and TV news directors know that SeaBees putting in concrete slabs or spreading plastic sheeting makes poor TV news visuals. Color me shocked.
Ponder all that, and get back to me.
But thanks for giving me another post for the day.
AESOP
ReplyDeleteOK. Points well made.
You are a stand up guy for responding to every comment.
Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAnd you were right, I left out the word "case" in the O.P.
Fixed.
I respect Solomon, and enjoy his blog. But I don't think this has become about resources.
ReplyDeleteIf we tame Ebola somehow, anything is possible.
Until we do, this is about Ebola, whether the moves are competent or incompetent.
Anybody trying to play geopolitical chess about resources, when they don't have a plan anywhere for what to do when Ebola breaks out in the next tier of countries, would be fucktardery of epic proportions.
"would be fucktardery of epic proportions" and yet......
ReplyDeleteI suspect there are groups tasked with just that sort of planning.
Do I think what is happening right now is ACTING on such a plan? NO.
I've heard many people say, jokingly of course, that the only problem with Africa is all the Africans there. That used to be WRT the AIDS epidemic, but would apply here and now too.
Then again, I've heard it bandied about that AIDS makes a pretty good bio-weapon for said depopulation because it is pretty easy to avoid getting it. Ebola, not so much. But, you can't rule out an opportunist planning to take advantage of the situation.
None of which has any bearing on what we personally and as a country should be doing now.
There was a pretty good short story in Bruce Sterling's _A Good Old-fashioned Future_ that has India ascendant after Mad Cow disease destroys western (beef eating) economies. So, not unthinkable that at some time in the far future you might have the western powers fighting for colonies and resources in Africa. There is already a long history of that.
Any word on the case in Oregon?
nick
Re: Oregon - Nope.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure people are planning military contingencies, that's what we pay them to do.
But actually doing it, in Africa now?
Horsefeathers.
Can we rely on any country's numbers about this anymore? Everyone is too busy trying to keep the lid on. In itself this is frightening.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile stocks reach all time new highs - party on!
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteAnd gold and silver at lows.
Last frantic party before the end?
Great time to sell out of stocks and buy metal.
nick