Ebola has revealed that the CDC is a disaster
posted at 12:01 pm on October 16, 2014 by Noah Rothman
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The United States is fortunate that Ebola is the first of the major foreign disease outbreaks meriting global warnings over the last 10 years to reach American shores. It is clear that the institutions tasked with keeping Americans safe amid a health crisis are incapable of meeting their expectations.
The only reason why there are now two cases of Ebola contracted inside the United States is because the Centers for Disease Control allowed a local Texas hospital, which had no guidance on how to handle an Ebola patient save for general CDC guidelines, to care for one. The result was that now two health care workers have become infected with the disease.
“No one knew what the protocols were or were able to verify what kind of personal protective equipment should be worn and there was no training,” read a statement released by the National Nurses United union on behalf of several of the health care workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
“Looking back, we say we should have put an even larger team on the ground immediately,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden conceded after noting that his agency could have had a “more robust management team and been more hands on from day one.” The horse is out of the barn now, isn’t it?
The CDC has been criticized for its careless response to the importation of Ebola into the U.S. via “index patient” Thomas Eric Duncan, but the last 24 hours have been instructive about how the CDC has responded to that criticism. Rather than functioning like a group of first responders in a crisis, the CDC much more closely resembles a federal bureaucracy managing a public relations disaster.
On Wednesday afternoon, it was revealed that Amber Vinson, the second care provider to contract Ebola, flew from Texas to Ohio the day before she was diagnosed with the deadly hemorrhagic fever. Vinson was not violently ill at the time, but she was feverish; she reportedly had a recorded temperature of 99.5 degrees.
“Although she did not report any symptoms and she did not meet the fever threshold of 100.4, she did report at that time she took her temperature and found it to be 99.5,” Frieden said on Wednesday. “I don’t think that changes the level of risk of people around her. She did not vomit, she was not bleeding, so the level of risk of people around her would be extremely low.”
In the same way that he expressed regrets about not providing Texas Presbyterian more hands-on guidance, Frieden lamented that his agency had not taken a more aggressive approach to preventing potential Ebola carriers from flying. He also noted that Vinson violated CDC guidelines when she flew.
“The CDC guidance in this setting outlines the need for controlled movement,” the CDC director told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. “We will from this moment forward ensure that no other individual who is being monitored for exposure undergoes travel in any way other than controlled movement.”
It turns out, however, that Vinson was not a modern Typhoid Mary bent on spreading this deadly contagion. An investigation revealed that Vinson contacted the CDC several times before boarding a plane because she was concerned about her early display of the symptoms associated with Ebola.
“This nurse, Nurse Vinson, did in fact call the CDC several times before taking that flight and said she has a temperature, a fever of 99.5, and the person at the CDC looked at a chart and because her temperature wasn’t 100.4 or higher she didn’t officially fall into the category of high risk,” CBS medical correspondent Dr. John LaPook revealed.
Despite her fever, despite having worked directly on an Ebola patient, the CDC cleared Vinson to fly.
Every individual on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 is now going to be receiving a terrifying telephone call from CDC officials informing them that they will have to quarantine themselves for the next 20 days because someone on their end screwed up.
Moreover, apparently the airline was not informed that they had transported a high risk passenger for several hours. A CBS local investigation using the program Flighttracker observed that the plane on which Vinson flew was used an additional five times before it was taken out of service and disinfected.
“Those flights include a return flight to Cleveland, Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL), FLL to Cleveland, Cleveland to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), and ATL to Cleveland,” CBS reported.
Allowing Vinson may not have been a public health risk, but then why not disclose that? Why did the CDC not come forward with any of this information? Why did it take a cursory investigation to discover these breaches of health safety protocol?
Incompetence and excuse making are fundamental traits which the public has become accustomed to seeing in federal agencies and the bureaucrats who manage them, but first responders addressing an acute crisis are supposed to behave differently. If the public does not believe the federal government can get their arms around this Ebola crisis, the public will start taking matters into their own hands. That is an outcome no one wants to see.
The CDC is a disaster. The public sees that clearly now, and they are soon going to expect the White House to do something about it.
This post has been updated since its original publication.
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Is it CDC?
Or is it CDCP?
Wither “Prevention”?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was pretty proud of the extra “P” when they were mission creeping into childhood obesity and gun control. But now that they are getting their butts kicked by Ebola after taking their eyes off the ball, they don’t want to talk about any of that anymore.
Haiku Guy on October 16, 2014 at 10:18 PM
To be fair, when the Ebola outbreak hit, Frieden was in hot pursuit of a gaggle of fat, pistol-packing lesbians who were massaging bunnies coated in trans-fats…
…whilst balancing Big Gulps atop their buzz-cut heads.
Ya know… a real crisis.
CPT. Charles on October 16, 2014 at 10:47 PM
That’s some sick joke, Freiden!
claudius on October 17, 2014 at 12:06 AM
Anybody ever go to the ER or work in an ER?
Let’s imagine a patient with actual ebola coming into the standard ER. He’s sick but coming in under his own power. Let’s call him Barry Ebola. Now let’s see where Barry deposits some ebola virus.
-Goes to the registration desk and registers. Chair, counter, pen, clipboard, forms. Maybe coughs some droplets onto the secretary across from him.
-Goes to waiting area. Chair, magazines. Maybe coughs some droplets onto those people sitting nearby.
-Goes to bathroom. Door handle. Toilet. Faucets.
-Stops at vending machine.
-Called to triage desk. Chair. Desk. Thermometer. BP cuff. Coughs on triage nurse who is using standard universal precautions (inadequate).
-Taken to isolation room because the triage nurse smartly noted his fever and travel from hot zone and thereby the possibility of ebola.
-Nurse comes into the isolation room wearing enhanced protective garb consisting of surgical mask, yellow paper gown and gloves (inadequate). She leaves the room after removing “protective” garb.
-Doctor comes into room in enhanced, enhanced protective garb (add a surgical hat to surgical mask, yellow paper gown and gloves (inadequate). Doctor has patient admitted to isolation room in ICU. Nurses and docs descend on patient in better isolation garb, maybe to include surgical booties and HEPA thingie in addition to the yellow paper gown, gloves. (inadequate). Phlebotomist comes in to draw blood in same gear (inadequate). Takes contaminated blood vials to the lab. X-ray tech and EKG tech come in. Insurance form filler-outer person definitely comes in. Housekeeping and dietary come in. Maybe even the chaplain comes in.
Get the picture?
I’m surprised there aren’t even more cases in Dallas (yet).
justltl on October 17, 2014 at 7:29 AM
Let’s go one more step for Barry and his flora and fauna.
“Code Blue, medical ICU.”
“Code Blue, medical ICU.”
“Code Blue, medical ICU.”
justltl on October 17, 2014 at 7:34 AM
We are so totally screwed:
nypost.com/2014/10/16/alarm-after-vomiting-passenger-dies-on-flight-from-nigeria-to-jfk/
They claim he didn’t have ebola.
A. I do not believe them. They have every reason to lie, not to embarrass King Typhoid Barry who can do no wrong and sees nothing, AND
B. Let A. go. What doe this story tell us even if the man did not have ebola?
dogsoldier on October 17, 2014 at 7:38 AM
Now imagine that Barry never got on the plane from Obolaville.
justltl on October 17, 2014 at 7:42 AM
O M G
www.nbc12.com/story/26810282/us-monitors-health-care-worker-aboard-cruise-ship
On a cruise ship.
dogsoldier on October 17, 2014 at 7:42 AM
Oh please. Two whole cases!
Meanwhile the flu killed over a thousand people today and no one noticed.
triple on October 17, 2014 at 8:01 AM
And 25% of you will die of heart disease, but I don’t see you advocating for banning cheeseburgers. That would make you a nanny state, wouldn’t it?
triple on October 17, 2014 at 8:05 AM
SCIENCE!
Stupid Faux news anti-science… Oh, wait.
Sorry, you were attempting to minimize your personal role in ebola being introduced and spread in the United States. Please continue.
rogerb on October 17, 2014 at 8:35 AM
You do realize of course, that eating a cheeseburger doesn’t instantly give a person heart disease, right?
Star Bird on October 17, 2014 at 8:56 AM
Certainly.
Star Bird on October 17, 2014 at 9:00 AM
I think that the concern is that the CDC appears to have mishandled one of, if not the, highest profile cases in their history. This first case of ebola was their Superbowl, and they appear to have come out onto the field in baseball uniforms, faced the wrong direction for the kickoff, then fumbled the ball. If they were so unprepared for their premier case, it is legitimate to raise a concern about their overall competence.
justltl on October 17, 2014 at 9:54 AM
“become accustomed to..?” No we haven’t, we are outraged.
We waste money every day on incompetent federal workers whose only request is that we hire someone else to do it who will hire someone else to do it who will search for the really competent person we need to hire for the work to get done, who will only do a study and tell you who you really really need to hire.
The answer is always more money, as well, but we see in the Bobby Jindahl article perfect examples of how the CDC deviates from its mission to get its hand into all kinds of pies and makework grants and jobs that have nothing to do with defending the public from communicable illness…you know…money for bikelanes instead of 13 centers pre empting Ebola outbreaks.
They never pay for the important things with the money because then they would not have any pretense to ask for more money.
In Massachusetts, Duval Patrick was more concerned with people making high salaries and inflating the government, and wouldn’t fire the people who were DOING NOTHING instead of regulating and inspecting the drug compounding pharmacies. They didn’t do their work, they just took a paycheck, and PEOPLE DIED.
Fleuries on October 17, 2014 at 9:59 AM
Only the CDC? How about the rest of the government?
kjatexas on October 17, 2014 at