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CDC: More Than 1,400 People in U.S. Being Actively Monitored for Ebola
[Above: Color-enhanced electron micrograph of Ebola virus particles. Courtesy: Thomas W. Geisbert, Boston University School of Medicine.]
The killer virus Ebola may not be front and center in the news, but it’s still in the forefront of efforts by health officials nationwide. As of today, more than 1,400 people in 44 states in the U.S. are being actively monitored by state and local health departments after returning from West Africa. The good news is that no new cases have been reported in the U.S. since Oct. 23.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, which provided the figure,
“They are being monitored because they came from one of the four countries with ongoing Ebola outbreaks.”
Responding to a public outcry, the Department of Homeland Security began, on Oct. 22, requiring all U.S. bound passengers from the primary Ebola-infected West African nations to arrive at one of five U.S. airports with enhanced screening.
To date, ten people have been treated for Ebola in the U.S. since late September.
More than 1,400 people in 44 states in the U.S. are being actively monitored for Ebola–CDC
Patients with Ebola Brought to U.S.
A total of six people have been brought to the U.S. after contracting Ebola in West Africa: five healthcare workers and one photojournalist. The photojournalist is 33-year old Ashoka Mukpo. All but one survived. Dr. Martin Salia, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., was already critically ill when he arrived from Sierra Leone for treatment at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He died just a few days later on Nov. 17. Officials say they don’t know exactly how he contracted the virus.
Ebola Cases Diagnosed in the U.S.
A total of four people have been diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. since Sept. 30. All of them recovered except one.
September 30, 2014 – CDC confirmed the first laboratory-confirmed case of Ebola to be diagnosed in the United States in Thomas Eric Duncan who had traveled to Dallas, Texas from Liberia. Local public health officials identified all of Duncan’s close contacts for daily monitoring for 21 days after exposure. Duncan died on Oct. 8. By Nov. 7, all of his close contacts had completed the 21-day monitoring period.
October 10, 2014 – Nina Pham, a 26-year old nurse who cared for Duncan at Texas Presbyterian Hospital tested positive for Ebola and was taken to the National Institutes for Health (NIH) Clinical Center. She recovered and was discharged on Oct. 24.
October 15, 2014 – Amber Vinson, a 29-year old nurse, became the second of Duncan’s health care workers to test positive for Ebola and was taken to Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She had flown from Dallas to Cleveland on Oct. 10, and from Cleveland to Dallas on Oct. 13. CDC officials say they “worked to ensure that all passengers and crew on the two flights were contacted by public health professionals to answer their questions and arrange follow up as necessary.” The patient recovered and was discharged Oct. 28 and all monitored passengers completed monitoring by Nov. 3.
October 23, 2014 – The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported Ebola in Dr. Craig Spencer, a medical aid worker who had returned to New York City from Guinea, where he served with Doctors Without Borders. He recovered and was discharged from Bellevue Hospital Center Nov. 11. No cases developed from outings he’d made in New York prior to being admitted to the hospital with a fever.
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It’s nice to see that journalism actually still exists.
Great job Sharyl. I’ve been using your reports in my classes for current events. You’re a true patriot. Thank you.
Obama has instituted two policies that are guaranteed to being Ebola to this country in large volume. CDC Director Frieden has a standing promise to every exposed person in the Ebola hot-zone that if only they can get themselves here on a tourist visa (which he refuses to restrict). They just reveal their possible exposure when they are screened upon entry and they will be whisked straight to the best medical care the world can provide. Frieden:
“Travelers from those countries will be escorted to an area of the airport set aside for screening. There they will be observed for signs of illness, asked a series of health and exposure questions, and given information on Ebola and information on monitoring themselves for symptoms for 21 days. Their temperature will be checked, and if there’s any concern about their health, they’ll be referred to the local public health authority for further evaluation or monitoring.”
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/09/cdc-chief-why-dont-support-travel-ban-to-combat-ebola-outbreak/
Obama is also offering to convert any tourist visa from a hot zone country into a permanent residence visa, giving all West African’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to jump to the head of the U.S. citizenship line, again if they can just manage to get themselves here, providing extreme incentive for mass immigration from the Ebola hot zone. Expect hundreds of thousands of hot zone citizens to jump on this instant road-to-US-citizenship offer as it remains open going forward.
http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/ebola-outbreak-related-immigration-relief-measures-nationals-guinea-liberia-and-sierra-leone-currently-united-states
Policies don’t happen by mistake. Malicious intent is the most likely explanation. The correct policy is the one the Greeks discovered with their own Ebola epidemic 2400 years ago. (Ebola is the current best guess for the Athenian plague reported by Thucydides.) The Greek solution was NOT to send previously unexposed people in (the entire Obama/Frieden rationale for leaving travel open), but to leave all work of isolating and caring for the sick to the immune survivors.
ALL of our on-the-ground efforts should be going into building that health care resource from Africa’s growing survivor corps, which would also ease the economic problem. The combination of care and income would create the negative “atmospheric pressure” needed to keep hot zone resident at home and keep the virus from spreading across the globe. Obama is headed aggressively in the opposite direction.
My post on the Greek solution is at my link.
“..guaranteed to bring Ebola to this country in large volume…” is an absolutely ridiculous assertion. You obviously don’t understand what it really takes to get a tourist visa from West Africa. You think people are going to get a virus that kills in 8-10 days, then apply for a visa, wait 4-6 months for that to get approved, then bring the virus here, where they will be screened and granted permanent citizenship for no reason at all.
I appreciate your effort to research this stuff Alec Rawls, but your application of these policies is purely theoretical and does not comport with the practical realities of either Ebola or Immigration.
Also, the Athenian solution is only feasible when a massive portion of your population has contracted the disease. Right now, such a proposition would reduce the available care for these patients from a coordinated staff of trained professionals down to the 2 young and inexperienced nurses who survived the disease. Once again, nice in theory, but completely misapplied and impractical.
Wow, Ms. Attkisson! I am startled, but encouraged to see a professional journalist do actual reporting! I could get used to this. Please keep it up.
Remember what our actual experience with Ebola in the US has been. We have had a lot of screenings. A few people who actually came down with Ebola, and a couple who got it from a late stage Ebola patient. No transmissions in early stage Ebola.
I am more worried about the seasonal flu. Depending of which flu takes off, they are expecting 6,000 to 49,000 flu deaths over the next six months.
But it’s Ebola . . . We’re aaall gooona diiiIIIiiieee!
Thanks, Sharyl for staying on this story…..the MSM has pushed the epidemic under the rug (at the bequest of the administration, IMHO)…..
Isn’t that interesting. Now that the election is over, so is the “EBOLA EMERGENCY”
Sharyl Attkisson, You really need to get in Touch with Dave Hodges and John Moore and Discuss your Findings.