A cascade of FAIL

 Ok, most of you have heard the news that Ebola is in the US, and in Dallas specifically.  What you may not be aware of, is the epic quantity of suck and fail that has come about from all this.

1.  A man from Liberia who had extensive close contact with an Ebola victim was allowed to fly to the US with minimal screening.

2.  When he went to the hospital complaining of being sick and having a 103* fever, he was sent home with antibiotics, despite telling the intake screener that he had come from Liberia.

3.  A couple days after that, when he was catastrophically sick, (ie: projectile vomiting, etc) he was transported by EMS to the hospital, where they decided to keep him in isolation.

4.  Although the hospital staff did their best, he died.  Unfortunately, not before infecting at least 2 other persons, both staff nurses who treated him.

5.  It is obvious the minimal protocols of paper mask, cotton gown, gloves, tape and face shield are INSUFFICIENT to prevent transmission of Ebola.  Nurses have complained that they had no instructions, that contaminated waste (bedding etc) was allowed to pile up to the ceiling, and that apparently the pneumatic delivery system for samples was used to send Ebola-contaminated samples to the labs.

6.  Staff treating the first patient, were not restricted in movement or contacts.  Patient #2 spent close time with her boyfriend.  He was recently admitted to hospital for observation, after the nurse-girlfriend came back positive.  Oh, the CDC says they are 'monitoring' all of them (folks who had contact with Ebola) twice daily, with temperature checks.  If that is true, then how in the hell did patient #3 FLY TO Cleveland on a commercial jet?  And then FLY BACK to Dallas only hours before she was found to have a fever (and tested positive for Ebola)!  Did her CDC tester fly with her? *(Actually latest info says she knew she had a low grade fever at the time she boarded the Frontier jet for Dallas...)

7.  Seriously, it is beginning to sound like a bad game of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon!  Only this time, it's 6 Degrees of Ebola, and it can kill you, dead right there, DRT.

No, I don't think it's time to break out the HAZMAT suit, or hunker in the bunker.  Not yet, anyway.  But it IS time to consider what would happen if this disease gets out of control in this country.  Time to make a plan for you and yours.  Game it out--how would  you deal with a workplace environment, schools, going to church, buying groceries?

No plan is perfect, but some sort of plan is better than standing around, wondering WTF to do next!  Stay safe out there everyone.  Don't panic, that won't help anyone.  As Reagan once said, "Trust, but verify" everything you read, or hear.  The .gov is heavily invested in self-preservation, NOT necessarily YOUR preservation.  Never confuse the two.