With the breaking news that a second Texas healthcare worker has been diagnosed with Ebola, it is imperative people understand how much advance warning and time the US, the CDC, and all related agencies, have had to prepare for the deadly Ebola virus and their failure to do so.... which some might call simple incompetence, yet others see an almost deliberate refusal to implement appropriate protocols across the nation, bringing up the obvious question of why?
Reminder, an associate of the nurse Nina Pham, was also put into quarantine yesterday, as reported by ANP on Tuesday, and is also at SHTF.
TIMELINE:
The 2014 west Africa Ebola outbreak started in December 2013 in Guinea, then spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone, with smaller outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal. (Source)
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Thomas Frieden stated in early August at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, that it was "inevitable" that Ebola infected patients from west Africa, suffering from the largest Ebola outbreak in history, would make their way to other countries including the US, spreading the Deadly Ebola virus that has killed over 4,000 people to date, but that a large outbreak in the US was "unlikely."
The "inevitable" statement may have been the only truthful statement we have heard from the CDC and the US government, as the travel graphic below shows, there was no way to contain Ebola to west Africa once the decision had been made to not restrict travel from Ebola infected countries.
PROTOCOL FAILURES NOT DUE TO SIMPLE INCOMPETENCE:On August 9, 2014, Dr. "S" sounded an alarm, on the Hagmann and Hagmann Show, stating outright that US hospitals were in no way prepared for an Ebola outbreak on US soil (You can listen to that show here) . That was followed by multiple warnings from other healthcare professionals, insisting that hospitals across America did not have the equipment nor the training to effectively treat any Ebola cases.
Despite these warnings the CDC, the US government and the mainstream media continued to insist that the US healthcare system was far better prepared than the west Africa healthcare system was to prevent the spread of Ebola once it inevitable hit America.
Enter Thomas Duncan, the first imported case of Ebola to the US, where proof of America's unpreparedness rasied it's ugly head. First Duncan was sent home from a Texas hospital after becoming symptomatic, despite hospital staff having been informed of his travel history, a 103 degree fever and was sent home with antibiotics... left to infect any around him for days before an ambulance was called and he was finally brought to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where he later died.
Now two of his healthcare workers have contracted Ebola and it all comes down to protocol failure.
At 6:51 AM on October 15, 2014, the Washington Post reported that the Dallas hospital that was treated Mr. Duncan "learned it's Ebola protocols while struggling to save" Duncan.
The hospital that treated Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan had to learn on the fly how to control the deadly virus, adding new layers of protective gear for workers in what became a losing battle to keep the contagion from spreading, a top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday.
“They kept adding more protective equipment as the patient [Duncan] deteriorated. They had masks first, then face shields, then the positive-pressure respirator. They added a second pair of gloves,” said Pierre Rollin, a CDC epidemiologist.
On October 14, 2014, I was contacted by a source, reported on ANP on Tuesday, who informed me that despite reports to the contrary, an Ebola scare in Tennessee, further proved that Ebola protocols were not being followed, from the entrance of a patient with symptoms, to the doctor disrobing of his inadequate protective gear in the Emergency Room where other patients were present.
Multiple others have now come forward with their own accounts of how the protocol instructions are poorly thought out, almost impossible to understand and how doctors and nurses are not preparared or trained to deal with any Ebola infections.
From the comment section of the ANP article on Tuesday:
Not surprised. Spouse works as an ER doc here in Idaho. I realize there are no cases of ebola here; however, we are not far from Spokane International Airport, so anyone at anytime can arrive w/this virus. Spouse states that his hospital has seen the CDC warning come to the hospital, but other than that, no PPE's are available, only basic N95 masks, paper gowns, and latex gloves. NOT PREPARED AT ALL IN IDAHO!!
Via an email sent to tips@allnewspipeline.com on Tuesday:
Am an RN. Got so mad yesterday that I spent the day researching what the protocol is. Am currently not working so cannot comment directly but have news from FEMA, CDC, and cohort nurses.
There are several problems with CDC regulations in addition to the education given. First off, CDC guidelines are not sufficient.
CDC Ebola protection guidelines call for the use of personal protective equipment (PPE). Standard contact and droplet precautions are advised. PPE is further defined as: disposable gloves, disposable gowns that are fluid resistant or impermeable, facemasks that cover the nose and mouth, goggles or face shield, and rubber boots. The level of face mask protection is not specified. Under certain conditions additional protection is called for as follows: “Procedures that might generate aerosols, such as intubation, should be avoided unless necessary for patient care; if it is necessary to perform such a procedure, healthcare providers should wear appropriately fit-tested respirators that provide at least 95% filtering efficiency (such as a NIOSH-certified N-95 or higher-level filtering face piece respirator)” Air Med," 2014, p. 1). Since the advice of the CDC states that masks should be N-95 only when aerosols are to be generated, can we presume then that normal face masks are otherwise acceptable? According to an RN source of mine who works in a hospital in Utah, they were told to use standard PPE masks and N95 masks are not available readily for nurses and staff to wear. Knowing what you do about microbe transmission, do you think that standard PPE masks will provide adequate protection?
N95 masks will protect for microbes 0.3 microns and larger. Ebola is 0.8 micron in size so this mask will work. there is no way the standard PPE mask will protect the nurse from Ebola. THIS IS WHAT IS NOT BEING TALKED ABOUT. FEMA is so incompetent that it even has information wrong on its website training for Ebola where it states that N95 masks work for microbes 3 microns and large....they missed the decimal. Really? I mean wow. Links are provided below. FEMA link is embedded in a training lesson on Ebola available on their website Lesson 5.1.
There is more. N95 masks will work if fit properly. What does that entail? am working on that - basically it means putting it on and qualitatively judging the fit. Gowns recommended by CDC are not fully body gowns.
The whole thing is a joke.
Guidance on air medical transport for patients with Ebola Virus Disease. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/guidance-air-medical-transport-patients.html Macintyre, C. R., Richards, G. A., & Davidsen, P. M. (2014). Respiratory protection for healthcare workers treating Ebola virus disease (EVD): Are facemasks sufficient to meet occupational health and safety obligations? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51, 1421-1426. doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2014.09.002 NIOSH-approved N-95 particulate filtering facepiece respirators. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1.html Pathogen Safety Data Sheet - Infectious Substances. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/res/psds-ftss/ebola-eng.php#footnote2 Signs and Symptoms. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/symptoms/
As I reported yesterday, but is well worth noting again before going any further, " In a recent press release from National Nurses United, we see that 2,000 RNs at more 750 facilities in 46 states and the District of Columbia, were surveyed and the results are chilling. • 76 percent still say their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola; • 85 percent say their hospital has not provided education on Ebola with the ability for the nurses to interact and ask questions ;• 37 percent say their hospital has insufficient current supplies of eye protection (face shields or side shields with goggles) for daily use on their unit; • 36 percent say there are insufficient supplies of fluid resistant/impermeable gowns in their hospital • 39 percent say their hospital does not have plans to equip isolation rooms with plastic covered mattresses and pillows and discard all linens after use; • only 8 percent said they were aware their hospital does have such a plan in place.
CONCLUSION:
We have established that the US had sufficient time, since December 2013, to put protocols in place for Ebola's "inevitable" appearance in America, yet despite multiple warnings from those that are now on the frontlines, so to speak, doctors and nurses, it hasn't been done and hospitals all across America are still completely unprepared for any type of massive outbreak, which leads us to the obvious question of why?
We know they expected something because DART teams (Disaster Assistance Response Teams) were notified months ago to prepare to be activated in the month of October and that EMS and hospitals would be "overwhelmed," as reported on October 4, 2014.
Another of my sources emailed last week, stating that "In early September I got a call from our supplier asking if I still had those filters, seems 3M has a huge order for the US gov’t and told all the distributors that supply of the filters and full face masks would be short for a few months till they filled the order and the distributor was calling around to the usually purchasers of said filters to see who had some still on the shelf because 3M Canada had asked all the Canadian distributeors to find out who had what left in stock."
The bottom line is they knew this was coming, yet NO attempt to adequately prepare hospitals across the nation were made, which brings to us the very question asked at the begining of this article and at the beginning of the conclusion section....... why?
Why were protocolas not implemented across America in December, or even when the CDC and US officials determined Ebola was inevitable in America? Why were DART Teams told to prepare to be activated in October? Why was training not offered to every single hospital in America? Why have the police in the US been completely militarized?
All of that suggests, stongly, that none of this is by accident..... none can be blamed on incompetence.... and those so-called "conspiracy theorists" that worry about martial law being implemented and the government just needed a reason, or that mandatory vaccinations would be forced upon the people, and most importantly, that all of this was planned, organized and implemented..... might just be right.
Consider one last thing -when the global community decided to help west Africa, Cuba sent doctors, the US sent US Military troops to the streets of west Africa.
Does anyone truly believe they will handle things any differently on America streets in US cities?