Friday, October 3, 2014

Unlike John Kerry, I Do Not Look Good In A Bunny Suit

SecState Kerry, setting a good example in this time of Ebola 













Shall we ban travelers from West Africa from entry into the United States? It seems the inevitable next step in containing the Ebola outbreak. We would not be alone, not by any means.

Saudi Arabia has already refused visas to "more than 7,000 would-be pilgrims from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone" as well as to anyone who visited those countries recently, according to the Nigerian embassy in Bern. Air France, British Air, and the airlines of some African nations have suspended flights to West Africa.

Why hasn't the U.S. done likewise? And if we did, would that be enough to prevent the importation of more travelers who have been exposed to Ebola?

The NYT is running an opinion piece today by the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies who points out that there may be over 13,000 holders of U.S. visas from the most affected countries. How would we ban them from entry?

Here's the key paragraph from the Op-Ed piece: Bar People From Areas Affected by Ebola Until Threat Is Over :
The total number of visas issued to citizens of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is not large relative to other countries. But it’s a large enough group to worry about. Based on State Department nonimmigrant visa issuance statistics [here], I estimate that there are about 5,000 people in Guinea, 5,000 people in Sierra Leone and 3,500 people in Liberia who possess visas to come to the United States today (or who could be in the U.S. right now). Additional steps need to be taken to protect our communities.

The WaPo has chimed in with an article in its Health section that has a hard-core headline (Why hasn’t the U.S. closed its airports to travelers from Ebola-ravaged countries?) but some squishy soft content:
If someone isn't exhibiting symptoms of Ebola, that person is not infectious. And one of the first symptoms of Ebola is a fever. In airports in all of the affected regions and across the world, passengers coming from flights from West Africa are being screened for elevated temperatures.

So, airline passengers are screened for elevated temperature, and so long as they don't seem to have a fever they can board a flight out of the hot zone? What if an infected traveler has taken acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) to lower his fever, like the U.S. National Institutes of Health says it will?

Unless we get serious with travel restrictions and entry screening, more infectious travelers may very well be coming to a city near you.

12 comments:

James said...

God, I love this photo. Straight out of a Woody Allen movie, when they were still funny.

Anonymous said...

Great Post and Photo TSB! Cmon!, Admit it: You are already trying those Yoga classes aren't you? And this Drudge headline:

EBOLA FEAR HITS DC! and this!
Biden: International Order 'Literally Fraying at the Seams'

I'm going to Walmart cause the lens popped out of my glasses but I'm gonna get some tylenol too! gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: Seriously, I have been following the 'pc' airline press in Seattle for many years. I predict it will take an ebola disaster in NYC before TSA even asks passengers if they have been around someone who might have had ebola. Next step will probably be huge inflight brawls over drunken cell phone chatter. Of course if those hi hat jewish guys find some woman with a fever all bets are off! gwb

TSB said...

James: Woody Allen movie, indeed! Specifically, when he was dressed as a sperm in Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex. The photo was taken at NASA, and Kerry's campaign staff were reportedly furious that it became public. It was Kerry's 'Dukakas on a tank' moment.

GWB: Regarding Segolene, her father was an Army officer and her brother was one of the underwater swimmers who planted the bomb on the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland's harbor. I'm happily married and all, but if I wasn't, well, I'd be learning French.

James said...

TSB: tout suite

Anonymous said...

TSB: Interesting developments in Sanaa with the Houthi's (and anyone else who wants to cruising the city w/o license plates on cars or motorcycles. They have taken over 7 schools for storage of weapons, tanks, ammo etc and pretty much have the run of the place. The few police still working are just directing traffic so if you go to work you better
have someone watching your stuff! US press still haven't noticed. gwb

Anonymous said...

Re: Sweden to Recognize Palestinian State: After the ?Intl Criminal Court takes up the pounding of Gaza to rubble
I think most of Europe will turn on Isreal with punishing sanctions. This latest episode has parallels with the Isreali invasion of Lebanon and the seige of West Beirut 30 yrs ago. Obomba
will hit the links as his ratings sink and Hollande will come out for sanctions. (if he's still around) gwb

TSB said...

GWB: The news media continues to be too distracted elsewhere to notice Yemen, eh?

Anonymous said...

TSB: Watching Dr.Gavin MacGregor-Skinner on C-Span regarding US response to Ebola. He's a public health expert/med school prof and really good on this threat. Also, the callers are only intelligent people and old geezers like me.. with great questions. Bottom line: US has really screwed this up so far because we don't do teamwork, public education and disaster preparedness. We do individual heroism and secrecy. good show! gwb Sounds like the REALLY scared people are too scared to call.

Anonymous said...

TSB: Yep TSB! The news media is having a heday with Ebola/WH/elevator assassins/ISIS beheadings/Okie beheadings/Bunnysuits/TexasTerror
too busy to notice Libya/Yemen/Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan/Boko Harem beheadings/diplo currier pay disaster. It's all on you and diplopundit now!! Have a great day!
gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: I suspect the Dallas Ebola victim or his family will have one hell of a windfall coming from Dallas Presbyterian Hospital whether he lives or dies. (for basically patting him on the head and sending him home with antibiotics) The reason is simple. They changed their story 3 times, probably altered the medical records, and all 3 stories were clearly designed by the PR department to save the hospital's reputation.gwb

Anonymous said...

TSB: This is the story which contains no real news: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20141004-dallas-ebola-case-shows-even-sound-plans-can-fail-spectacularly.ece

1.What is the charge for reviewing a questionaire and giving a guy antibiotics and a pat on the head? 2. The price of a fever and a stomach ache at the ER just went up a lot! gwb