Ebola in Texas.

[TFOGGER]

Let's look at this as a numbers issue: If just 1% of the US population becomes infected with Ebola, that's 3.5 MILLION cases. If the mortality rate is a measly 30%(rather than the 70 to 90% commonly cited, due to our better infrastructure), that's still over 1 million dead. It makes the 9/11 terrorist attacks look like a rounding error. The question is not IF, but when. IMHO, anyone that has been to West Africa in the last 90 days needs to serve out a 21 day quarantine before being allowed to board a US bound flight. Fer chrissakes, control the damn borders and ports. ICE is so damn concerned with preventing counterfeit handbags from coming into the country that they've lost sight of the mission, namely domestic security.

/rant

[Aloha_Shooter]

I figured all the epidemic movies were just so much Hollywood hype and a lot of the bulletin board chatter was tin-foil hat scaremongering but I have to admit the more recent cases have given me pause for thought. Seems like now would be a good time to visit Iceland or some other place West Africans tend to not care for ...

[DenverGP]

I think this is going to be the big problem as the ebola outbreak continues:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...l-America.html

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2...om-West-Africa

[Special Ed]

Let's look at this as a numbers issue: If just 1% of the US population becomes infected with Ebola, that's 3.5 MILLION cases. If the mortality rate is a measly 30%(rather than the 70 to 90% commonly cited, due to our better infrastructure), that's still over 1 million dead. It makes the 9/11 terrorist attacks look like a rounding error. The question is not IF, but when. IMHO, anyone that has been to West Africa in the last 90 days needs to serve out a 21 day quarantine before being allowed to board a US bound flight. Fer chrissakes, control the damn borders and ports. ICE is so damn concerned with preventing counterfeit handbags from coming into the country that they've lost sight of the mission, namely domestic security.

/rant

EXACTLY! You'd think that this would have been the first friggin' thing the idiots in charge would've done. It's not cruel or unusual punishment. It's the only smart thing to do in cases like this. It would have stopped Ebola Man from bringing that crap into this country. Yeah, some people who aren't sick would be inconvenienced a bit. But the consequences of failing to do this can be much worse than having your homecoming delayed by a few weeks.

[Gman]

I still don't grasp the logic of an American becoming infected in Africa and the response being to bring them back home. Keep it over there and treat it over there. It's more difficult to spread in the American population if it isn't actively being imported.

[sellersm]

It's easier to spread in the American population if it is actively being imported.

FIFY. Like it or not, this is their goal... Look at their actions and tell me their goal is something different.

[davsel]

^ Yup

[hollohas]

Even if an outbreak on US soil was way smaller than 1% it'd be a major problem. Let's say 1000 people got infected in Denver. Think there's room for 1000 people to be isolated in area hospitals? Are there enough qualified nurses and doctors to care for each of them? What about the contacts of those thousand people that need to be tracked? Maybe each infected person only had contact with 20 people, less than Dallas ebola guy. That's 20,000 secondary people that need to be tracked, tested daily and forced into quarantine. Are there enough police to keep that many people locked in their homes? Will they all have 21 days worth of supplies or will they need to be helped?

What about the cost. Dallas ebola guy's medical costs are being reported to be in excess of $500k. His family isn't going to pay that. So who would pay the medical bills if 1000 people got sick at $500k a pop. What's that, $500 million? The cleanup of his apartment was over $100k aparently. Multiply that by our example number of 1000.

Now run those numbers if that many people get infected in a dozen cities. Two dozen? That's still not very many people. 24,000. A minor number of sick compared to some of the flu's and plagues from history. 24,000... $500k each just for medical...$12 billion? Think Cigna will cover that?

Add cleanup, humanitarian aid, logistical costs, LE costs, etc, etc, etc.

I wonder what the magic number is that would overload the system...how many infected until it breaks the camel's back? Obviously it would be different for each city, but how many infected could a city like Denver handle until it just couldn't treat any more? A city might be able to keep an outbreak somewhat under control, with only slow increases in the number of sick...but once a city reachesd it's limit of how many people it could treat, the number of infected would skyrocket quickly.

I agree with those here...we should have been taking EVERY step possible to make sure not a single infected person made it to our shores. The only way to make sure would be to shut-her-down. Lock the door. Instead we are basically inviting them here. We advertised that we healed 4 doctors who were infected. Everyone in Africa must be thinking, "dang, those Americans have amazing health care. If I get infected, I'm going there." And you know what? I'd bet good money that's exactly what Dallas ebola guy did. Didn't work out too well for him and it had the potential to really screw us. How long until the next guy shows up?

[68Charger]

Even if an outbreak on US soil was way smaller than 1% it'd be a major problem. Let's say 1000 people got infected in Denver. Think there's room for 1000 people to be isolated in area hospitals? Are there enough qualified nurses and doctors to care for each of them? What about the contacts of those thousand people that need to be tracked? Maybe each infected person only had contact with 20 people, less than Dallas ebola guy. That's 20,000 secondary people that need to be tracked, tested daily and forced into quarantine. Are there enough police to keep that many people locked in their homes? Will they all have 21 days worth of supplies or will they need to be helped?

What about the cost. Dallas ebola guy's medical costs are being reported to be in excess of $500k. His family isn't going to pay that. So who would pay the medical bills if 1000 people got sick at $500k a pop. What's that, $500 million? The cleanup of his apartment was over $100k aparently. Multiply that by our example number of 1000.

Now run those numbers if that many people get infected in a dozen cities. Two dozen? That's still not very many people. 24,000. A minor number of sick compared to some of the flu's and plagues from history. 24,000... $500k each just for medical...$12 billion? Think Cigna will cover that?

Add cleanup, humanitarian aid, logistical costs, LE costs, etc, etc, etc.

I wonder what the magic number is that would overload the system...how many infected until it breaks the camel's back? Obviously it would be different for each city, but how many infected could a city like Denver handle until it just couldn't treat any more? A city might be able to keep an outbreak somewhat under control, with only slow increases in the number of sick...but once a city reachesd it's limit of how many people it could treat, the number of infected would skyrocket quickly.

I agree with those here...we should have been taking EVERY step possible to make sure not a single infected person made it to our shores. The only way to make sure would be to shut-her-down. Lock the door. Instead we are basically inviting them here. We advertised that we healed 4 doctors who were infected. Everyone in Africa must be thinking, "dang, those Americans have amazing health care. If I get infected, I'm going there." And you know what? I'd bet good money that's exactly what Dallas ebola guy did. Didn't work out too well for him and it had the potential to really screw us. How long until the next guy shows up?

Well, at least someone's making money? it keeps people gainfully employed... but the problem is- where does the money come from?

[HoneyBadger]

Well, at least someone's making money? it keeps people gainfully employed... but the problem is- where does the money come from?

The federal reserve.