CDC Preparing for EBOLA ?, Now we know why, 3000 U.S. Troops To Africa

[thomashenry]

I read this yesterday & wondered Why would the CDC openly say they are preparing for EBOLA in the United States, WHEN Until Recently there has Never been a concern, aside from the Dr`s from Samaritans Purse were treated here in a highly controlled atmosphere .

N.Y. Times AFRICA

U.S. to Commit Up to 3,000 Troops to Fight Ebola in Africa
By HELENE COOPER, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and DENISE GRADYSEPT. 15, 2014


WASHINGTON — Under pressure to do more to confront the Ebola outbreak sweeping across West Africa, President Obama on Tuesday is to announce an expansion of military and medical resources to combat the spread of the deadly virus, administration officials said.

The president will go beyond the 25-bed portable hospital that Pentagon officials said they would establish in Liberia, one of the three West African countries ravaged by the disease, officials said. Mr. Obama will offer help to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia in the construction of as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds.



The Ebola Outbreak in West Africa
Senior administration officials said Monday night that the Department of Defense would open a joint command operation in Monrovia, Liberia, to coordinate the international effort to combat the disease. The military will also provide engineers to help construct the additional treatment facilities and will send enough people to train up to 500 health care workers a week to deal with the crisis.



The body of a man thought to have died of Ebola on a Monrovia, Liberia, street on Monday. The Liberian president has implored President Obama to do more. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Officials said the military expected to send as many as 3,000 people to Africa to take charge of responding to the Ebola outbreak.

“We all recognize that this is such an extraordinary, serious epidemic,” a senior official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of Mr. Obama’s public remarks on Tuesday. The efforts should turn the tide from a high-transmission epidemic that continues to grow every day, other officials said.

The White House plan would increase the number of doctors and other health care workers being sent to West Africa from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other American agencies, officials said.

The American government will also provide 400,000 Ebola home health and treatment kits to Liberia, as well as tens of thousands of kits intended to test whether people have the disease. The Pentagon will provide some logistical equipment for health workers going to West Africa and what administration officials described as “command and control” organizational assistance on how to coordinate the overall relief work. The Army Corps of Engineers is expected to be part of the Defense Department effort.

Administration officials did not say how soon the 17 treatment centers would be built in Liberia; officials there, as well as international aid officials, have said that 1,000 beds are needed in Liberia in the next week alone to contain a disease that has been spreading exponentially.


Monrovia, the Liberian capital, is facing a widespread Ebola epidemic, and as the number of infected grows faster than hospital capacity, some patients wait outside near death. Video Credit By Ben C. Solomon on Publish Date September 11, 2014.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease and public health expert at Vanderbilt University, praised the plan, calling it a “major commitment,” and said it was more extensive than he had expected.

“It seems coordinated and coherent,” Dr. Schaffner said. He added that “the real core” was the Defense Department’s logistical support “because the heart of any kind of epidemic containment concept is getting the goods to the right place, putting up the institution.”

Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the plan was an important first step, “but it is clearly not enough.” The focus on Liberia, he said, is too limited, and more help should be extended to Sierra Leone and Guinea, the other countries at the center of the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story
“We should see all of West Africa now as one big outbreak,” Dr. Osterholm said. “It’s very clear we have to deal with all the areas with Ebola. If the U.S. is not able or not going to do it, that’s all the more reason to say the rest of the world has to do it.”

Dr. Jack Chow, a professor of global health at Carnegie Mellon University, also warned that “the virus does not recognize national borders and will continue to spread where health care is inadequate.”

Continue reading the main story

Graphic: What You Need to Know About the Ebola Outbreak
Top White House aides on Monday rejected criticism from African officials, doctors and representatives from aid groups who said the United States had been slow to act in the face of the disease. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said the government, including the C.D.C., had committed more than $100 million since the outbreak started in the early spring


“The C.D.C. has responded commensurate to the seriousness” of the crisis, Mr. Earnest told reporters ahead of a trip Mr. Obama has planned to the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Earnest called the response “among the largest deployments of C.D.C. personnel ever.”

Senior administration officials conceded that the effort must expand further as the outbreak threatens to spread in Africa and, potentially, beyond the continent. Officials said medical experts in the government were genuinely worried about the possibility of a mutation that could turn the virus into a more contagious sickness that could threaten the United States.

The World Health Organization has issued a dire Ebola warning for Liberia, saying that the number of afflicted patients was increasing exponentially and that all new treatment facilities were overwhelmed, “pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload.” The description of the crisis in Liberia suggested an even more chaotic situation there than had been thought.

Ms. Johnson Sirleaf, who has implored Mr. Obama to do more to help her country battle the disease, traveled over the weekend through Monrovia, the Liberian capital, with the United States ambassador, Deborah R. Malac.


“What is needed is on a scale that is unprecedented,” a senior administration official said in an interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she was not allowed by the White House to talk on the record ahead of Mr. Obama’s announcement.

The United States, a second senior administration official said, also plans to send 400,000 home protective kits to the four counties in Liberia that have been hardest hit by Ebola. The kits will include protective gear for family members, gloves and masks, disinfectants, and fever-reducing drugs.

That is worrisome, Dr. Osterholm said, because it is difficult to care for Ebola patients without becoming infected, and there is no proof that the kits will work. “We are going to endanger family members more by providing the kits,” he said.

Helene Cooper and Michael D. Shear reported from Washington, and Denise Grady from New York.


AFRICOM already warns its own personnel that they should 'avoid nonessential travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.'
And the Defense Department is concerned, one Pentagon official told MailOnline, about the public perceptions aroused when American G.I.s patrol ground zero in a disease outbreak that could plunge three or more countries into chaos if it worsens significantly.
Combat soldiers and Marines 'will be on hand and ready for anything,' said the official, who has knowledge of some, but not all, of the Ebola-related planning. 'But hopefully it will be all logistics and hospital-building.'
'The president has ordered us to help, and we're eager to do it,' he said. 'Now it looks like we're going to be the lead dog, and that's bound to make a lot of people nervous. It's understandable.'
'But no one wants U.S. personnel enforcing someone else's martial law if things go south and the entire region is at risk.

[theKurp]

I read this yesterday & wondered Why would the CDC openly say they are preparing for EBOLA in the United States, WHEN Until Recently there has Never been a concern, aside from the Dr`s from Samaritans Purse were treated here in a highly controlled atmosphere .

Seems to me you've already answered your own question.

[NorwichGrad]

Too bad we can’t bottle up the ebola virus and then drop them on isis.

[quicksand jesus]

Too bad we can’t bottle up the ebola virus and then drop them on isis.

That would be nice!

[philipj]

Check the patent office, who owns Ebola? You do, the USG.

Why the misdirect over ebola? every day 1400 people die in the US Hospitals of mistakes. The USG has stopped reporting this 2 months ago(4th biggest killer in the US), as they did not want you realizing we have a bigger problem with US doctors, hospitals, and drug companies. Now all those killers can over charge you with helping you not get ebola??

[GKC45]

^That sounds like some real bat**** crazy coocoo stuff.

[Brackneyc]

I see this ending well.

[Phattso]

Check the patent office, who owns Ebola? You do, the USG.

Why the misdirect over ebola? every day 1400 people die in the US Hospitals of mistakes. The USG has stopped reporting this 2 months ago(4th biggest killer in the US), as they did not want you realizing we have a bigger problem with US doctors, hospitals, and drug companies. Now all those killers can over charge you with helping you not get ebola??

Let me guess: You are a Kevin Trudeau fan.

[so-tex]

Let me guess: You are a Kevin Trudeau fan.

Lol.

[Brackneyc]

Check the patent office, who owns Ebola? You do, the USG.

Why the misdirect over ebola? every day 1400 people die in the US Hospitals of mistakes. The USG has stopped reporting this 2 months ago(4th biggest killer in the US), as they did not want you realizing we have a bigger problem with US doctors, hospitals, and drug companies. Now all those killers can over charge you with helping you not get ebola??

Oh ffs.

[Corbi]

Check the patent office, who owns Ebola? You do, the USG.

Why the misdirect over ebola? every day 1400 people die in the US Hospitals of mistakes. The USG has stopped reporting this 2 months ago(4th biggest killer in the US), as they did not want you realizing we have a bigger problem with US doctors, hospitals, and drug companies. Now all those killers can over charge you with helping you not get ebola??

One of the most asinine statements ever put forth on this board.

[Plateauplower]

Want a real eye opener read "The Hot Zone" by Robin Cook. Ebola, Marburg and every other nasty virus and bacteria are already in the USA at USAMRIID and the CDC. Just a matter of time before there are actual cases by some terrorist nut job intentionally getting infected and coming here during the latency period. It takes direct contact with body fluids to contract the disease so don't lick anyone that is hemmoraging form their eyes etc.

[acrawlingchaos]

I read this yesterday & wondered Why would the CDC openly say they are preparing for EBOLA in the United States, WHEN Until Recently there has Never been a concern, aside from the Dr`s from Samaritans Purse were treated here in a highly controlled atmosphere.

Prevention is the best cure. Controlling the outbreak in Africa will minimize the impact on the U.S..

[Old-Time-Lifter]

Prevention is the best cure. Controlling the outbreak in Africa will minimize the impact on the U.S..

Agreed, but is sending military the best idea? From what I've read some of the most basic things would help the most, like latex gloves for example. One story I read blamed much of the problem on lack of basic supplies needed to keep things sterile.

[acrawlingchaos]

Agreed, but is sending military the best idea? From what I've read some of the most basic things would help the most, like latex gloves for example. One story I read blamed much of the problem on lack of basic supplies needed to keep things sterile.

I think the humanitarians that are doing their part to keep America safe are worthy of military protection.

There isn't a doubt in my mind. This is absolutely the right thing to do.

[so-tex]

Roy, I think me and you are probably generally in very, very close agreement on the need to limit the deployment of military force. However, I am going to make the case for doing so in this situation. Firstly because as a humanitarian effort it is just the right thing to do. Secondly, there really just isn't any other organization I can think of that's going to have the resources, skill, and experience needed to set up, on short notice, medical treatment facilities halfway around the world in an austere environment.

As scary as this is and as deep of a fear as I have Ebola getting back into the United States via this deployment, I find it far more dangerous to America to do nothing and let this horrible disease blow up the whole world. I am fully supporting the President on this call.

I'm with you here.

[NorwichGrad]

Roy, I think me and you are probably generally in very, very close agreement on the need to limit the deployment of military force. However, I am going to make the case for doing so in this situation. Firstly because as a humanitarian effort it is just the right thing to do. Secondly, there really just isn't any other organization I can think of that's going to have the resources, skill, and experience needed to set up, on short notice, medical treatment facilities halfway around the world in an austere environment.

As scary as this is and as deep of a fear as I have Ebola getting back into the United States via this deployment, I find it far more dangerous to America to do nothing and let this horrible disease blow up the whole world. I am fully supporting the President on this call.

SGM (Holy crap I almost called you 'Top'..lol),

I agree 100% with you. However, because the commander-in-chief is Obama, there is that cynical part of me that cannot help ask the question, "yeah, but what is his real intent?" On the surface, YES, I absolutely agree with the decision. But given Obama's history, I am sure there are millions of Americans who will believe that his intents are 'sneaky' every time he makes a decision.

This is why CHARACTER is so important in leadership. Buy you already know this..

If the President were Ronald Reagan, or somebody that is honorable, pffff, I would not even ask that question..

[Old-Time-Lifter]

Roy, I think me and you are probably generally in very, very close agreement on the need to limit the deployment of military force. However, I am going to make the case for doing so in this situation. Firstly because as a humanitarian effort it is just the right thing to do. Secondly, there really just isn't any other organization I can think of that's going to have the resources, skill, and experience needed to set up, on short notice, medical treatment facilities halfway around the world in an austere environment.

As scary as this is and as deep of a fear as I have Ebola getting back into the United States via this deployment, I find it far more dangerous to America to do nothing and let this horrible disease blow up the whole world. I am fully supporting the President on this call.

I can't disagree with you. But as of yet I haven't heard the details on this. Are the troops going to be sent regular military or National Guard? If it's Guard Units then I have a personal fear that my cousin will in fact be going over as he is a very high ranking officer in the Guard Medical. If the Guard is sent he'll be there (he is not of the habit of leading from the rear he always puts himself in the hot spots) and that's a bit too close to me and my family for me to be excited about this idea... if he brought something back it could easily get to my aunt, my uncles, my mother, my sisters, my brothers, my son, multiple cousins, etc, etc, etc....

[thomashenry]

If the President built a helicopter on the South Lawn, flew it solo to Liberia, personally discovered and administered a cure for Ebola and then negotiated an end to the war in Sudan, a certain segment of our population would still curse him and probably demand his birth certificate.

" He didn`t build that " ! :]

I would tend to agree with your statement as well as others statement`s, when it comes to benevolence and attempting to help others the United States has taken the Lead & assumed the awesome task in most instances when it comes to Humanitarian Aid, regardless and in spite of Political gains or ramifications dangers etc, from praise to castigation we try and take the moral & ethical course ! this is a horrible and ravaging plague and has the potential to grow and become a World Nightmare that has no boundaries !

The man in the White House, I do not need to expand on my opinion of him any longer, he just happens to be the President in this instance in history, and I obviously will not get into War`s & Rumors, plague's and other descriptions in this post either.

If, our task is to help and attempt at preventing this plague growing exponentially, then I would not want any other to do this other than the United States

I would hope & Pray that those who are sent are equipped with the absolute best equipment we have with nothing left to chance and are acutely aware of exactly what they are dealing with

[Old-Time-Lifter]

This mission is going to , at least initially, be all Regular Army due to the time sensitive nature. Reservists may come in depending on how long this nightmare takes to contain. I do not anticipate any National Guard unit at least not on the medical side.

Talked to my other cousin (older brother to one in the Guard) he tells me that his brother is likely done deploying and is planning to retire soon. He has a new wife (less than half his age) and a new baby so he's finally settling down apparently.

Good luck and God's protection to all those that do deploy.

[Phattso]

Maybe there is no better solution than to send troops on this mission. However, what is the risk to these troops of acquiring ebola themselves?

[acrawlingchaos]

I can't disagree with you. But as of yet I haven't heard the details on this. Are the troops going to be sent regular military or National Guard? If it's Guard Units then I have a personal fear that my cousin will in fact be going over as he is a very high ranking officer in the Guard Medical. If the Guard is sent he'll be there (he is not of the habit of leading from the rear he always puts himself in the hot spots) and that's a bit too close to me and my family for me to be excited about this idea... if he brought something back it could easily get to my aunt, my uncles, my mother, my sisters, my brothers, my son, multiple cousins, etc, etc, etc....

The Government is very adept at making sure nothing comes back to the U.S.. It would be far more likely to cross borders in the civilian sector.

Maybe there is no better solution than to send troops on this mission. However, what is the risk to these troops of acquiring ebola themselves?

The current vaccine is adequate for our troop protection. It is at least as effective as the Anthrax Vaccination.

[Phattso]

The current vaccine is adequate for our troop protection. It is at least as effective as the Anthrax Vaccination.

Very good.

[WolfishGrin]

Too bad we can’t bottle up the ebola virus and then drop them on isis.

mindblown.gif

[NOVACommute]

Mission?
Task(s) and Purpose(s)?
End State?
Is this asset the most appropriate for the mission? Do we have assets that will better accomplish the mission?

It's easy to say "send the military," but is that the correct answer?

[Caesura75]

It's highly anticipated (as with avian flu) that if the ebola virus did spread worldwide then it would become far less deadly in the process. Current expectations are that the mortality rate would fall below 5% and may even be insignificant.

Of course that's still potentially 5% but bear in mind that the experimental drugs such as ZMapp has also been very successful in treating those who have contracted the disease. As these drugs are improved (and also produced on a far larger scale if need be), then they'll likely deal with the threat effectively.

The bigger concern to scientists is bacteria's growing resistance to antibiotics. Considering it's only been in production for around 70 years and the bugs are already becoming immune, it won't be long before minor infections prove to be potentially fatal again. As it is, the pharamaceuticals aren't bothered as the research doesn't generate profits.

[NorwichGrad]

The Government is very adept at making sure nothing comes back to the U.S.. It would be far more likely to cross borders in the civilian sector.

You mean like from the illegals south of the border?

[acrawlingchaos]

Mission?

Safeguard U.S. Humanitarian assets.

Task(s) and Purpose(s)?

See above.

End State?

See above.

Is this asset the most appropriate for the mission?

Yes.

Do we have assets that will better accomplish the mission?

What would the alternative be?

It's easy to say "send the military," but is that the correct answer?

3000 troops is relatively small, and appropriate for the mission.

[Old-Time-Lifter]

It's highly anticipated (as with avian flu) that if the ebola virus did spread worldwide then it would become far less deadly in the process. Current expectations are that the mortality rate would fall below 5% and may even be insignificant.

Of course that's still potentially 5% but bear in mind that the experimental drugs such as ZMapp has also been very successful in treating those who have contracted the disease. As these drugs are improved (and also produced on a far larger scale if need be), then they'll likely deal with the threat effectively.

The bigger concern to scientists is bacteria's growing resistance to antibiotics. Considering it's only been in production for around 70 years and the bugs are already becoming immune, it won't be long before minor infections prove to be potentially fatal again. As it is, the pharamaceuticals aren't bothered as the research doesn't generate profits.

That's pretty hard to calculate imho. If it remains as virulent and becomes more easily contracted air-borne then all bets are off. The one US Doctor that they have been treating in Omaha has no clear connection to Ebola so they do not know how he caught it.

[acrawlingchaos]

You mean like from the illegals south of the border?

It would be far easier to cross the Canadian border.