What specific problem do you have with the cdc? those two nurses that got infected seem to be all on texas health. i think most of what the cdc is getting grilled for is because others don't understand how disease control works.
I did say my biggest issues were with Dallas Presby. However, the CDC has had a few missteps. Their protocol for symptoms and temperature elevation and PPE have each changed 2-3 times in just the last 10 days. Despite telling us for months that "we got this", it's clear they didn't. They should have been at the forefront of training public hospitals and it seems most have little or none. They tell people to call them but as of 3 days ago, the wait time was an hour and a half and longer to get a call back. People who contacted the CDC were told someone would follow up and many have never received follow up. Frieden went on TV and told the public that Dallas Presby had things under control but they didn't know that, didn't verify that and it wasn't true. Mostly, they didn't consider some very basic elements in their preparations. We saw in West Africa what most Americans would consider irrational behavior from people who were either infected or related to an infected person. And yet we are all human and even if we aren't going to break down a door to reclaim a dead infected body, we get on public transportation, we don't disclose the entire truth, and we cover up problems rather than exposing and fixing them. There were no "what ifs" in the CDC's plan and it's obvious. What if a person in isolation decides to break isolation? What if someone exposed to an ebola patient uses public transportation? What if a hospital misdiagnoses an ebola patient? What if protocol isn't in place or followed? What if we don't have enough personnel to handle a small outbreak.....or even a big one? What communication plans have been put in place? Where will infected patients go? Why did the CDC's pamphlet instruct an international traveler with possible symptoms to call "their doctor"? This wasn't thought through nearly enough.
Our hospital was informed it would only take a few days to make the diagnosis. I had a meeting with them Friday. They have been very proactive in getting nurses and Drs trained. Developing lab protocols and identifying the best room to isolate an Ebola patient. Being that we get quite a few foreigners here for the blues music the Fire Coordinator and I will be modifying protocol for working vehicle extrications.
i don't know the answers to most of your issues. but the CDC has no teeth unless granted emergency powers. the CDC has "recommended" protocols. for me the scary thing is that the protocols for ebola aren't really different from many that hospitals always deal with --- hiv, hepC and mrsa. the hospitals are the reason for so many nosocomial infections.
It complicates things that initial Ebola symptoms are similar to flu symptoms and dozen of other tropical diseases. And flu season is coming up. I can see small hospitals getting overwhelmed pretty quickly if there was a local scare. I haven't even thought about events like festivals. I am glad to hear that people are taking it seriously.
