If there is one killer virus that we should have been thoroughly prepared for, it's Ebola.
Ever since The Hot Zone was published in 1995, it was obvious that one day, thanks to modern air travel, Ebola was going to arrive here. As a result, you'd expect the planning and execution to be pristine.
I've held off posting on this because, like most Americans, my natural inclination is to give the people on the ground the benefit of the doubt. So far, it appears that we are not as well prepared as one might expect.
The updates from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sound a lot like "catch-up ball." The commonly-cited explanations that nurses have not followed protocol prompt several questions:
- Why didn't they?
- Did they have sufficient training? If so, how recently and by whom?
- Did they have the right protective gear?
- When was the last time they had a training exercise while using the protective gear?
- Was a timely system in place to catch and correct a lapse in protocol?
- Is it clear which step in the protocol was not followed?
- Is it possible that everything was done properly and there is something wrong with the protocol?
2 comments:
As with everything else, the current administration has conflated Ebola with a peculiar narrative that reflects their own partisan political concerns.
They overrate their true abilities and consistently underestimate the intelligence of all who disagree with that narrative.
On a related note, it is a little discouraging that this one woman probably knows more about the practical treatment of Ebola than our entire national medical establishment at the moment.
Maybe we should hire her to replace Thomas Frieden.
Larry,
That is an amazing story.
Thanks for passing it along.
Michael
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