So Were These People Stupid, Selfish, Vindictive, or Misinformed

[erpowers]

It is now being reported that an employee from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who may have handled a specimen from Thomas Eric Duncan is in voluntary quarantine on a cruise ship. This news makes me ask were these people stupid, selfish, vindictive, or misinformed. What would cause one nurse with a temperature of 99 degrees, after treating someone with Ebola, get on a plane, fly across the country, and go to a bridal shop and try on multiple dresses? Why would another person who may have handled a lab specimen get on a cruise ship with other people? It just seems to me that if people treated someone with Ebola, those people should have been willing to avoid public contact for 20 days. In addition, it seems they should not have gone as far as to put themselves into contact with hundreds, or thousands of people with the chance of those people going out and infecting thousands more people.

I understand some at DU do like like the idea of the nurse and lab worker being criticized. However, I think people have the right to ask what were those two thinking? I think people also have the right to ask how could those two put so many other people at risk?

[In_The_Wind]

1. I believe they were misinformed. IMO: No health care worker would deliberately risk others.

[get the red out]

2. Could have gone into denial

Being exposed to Ebola might have been just too much to process. Not meaning to start an argument or defend their actions, but this is just one possibility that occurred to me last night when I saw the cruise ship story.

[morningfog]

3. What does "may have handled" mean?

Did the person even actually handle anything? Did the person simply test the samples?

If so, they are not at serious risk of infection. Testing a vial in a controlled lab is much different than handling vomit, feces and blood coming out of the patient.

Was this person even in the group of 76 who were being monitored? Did they even know that the sample they "handled" came from an Ebola patient?

There is a lot we don't know about the cruise ship person yet.

[TorchTheWitch]

11. the person has been asymptomatic for 19 days

They self-quarantined on the ship because yesterday the CDC decided that instead of self-monitoring anyone that had anything to do with Mr. Duncan's person or his bodily fluids should be quarantined instead of the self-monitoring. Belize would not allow the ship to dock. The US sent transportation to remove the person and whoever they were traveling with to complete two more days in quarantine back in the US.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_EBOLA_CRUISE_SHIP?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Obama administration officials said a Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from a Liberian man who died from Ebola is self-quarantined on a Caribbean cruise ship and is being monitored for infection.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that the woman had shown no signs of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 19 days.

The government is working to return the woman and her husband to the U.S. before the ship completes its cruise. The White House said the State Department was working to secure their transportation home.

An administration official who was not authorized to be named and requested anonymity said the cruise ship had stopped in Belize but officials there would not allow the passenger to leave the vessel.


I'm getting REALLY damn outraged at the all blaming of the workers going on that followed instruction from the CDC as they are supposed to do and required to do.

[KitSileya]

4. I think you mean "don't like"

It is true that there is considerable pushback on criticism of the last nurse. I have been one of those criticising her. I have also said that I completely and fully blame their employer and the CDC for the inadequate response to Mr. Duncan, they should have had proper protocol and protective gear ready. However, if the second nurse managed to infect someone on her second flight, I blame her.

[treestar]

5. They are not contagious until symptomatic

No one is really in any danger. We love abundance of caution it seems. Treating someone alone does not make you contagious. You have to get the symptoms yourself. Trying on the same dresses is not going to spread this virus.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. What the fuck?

Yet another incident of kiss up, kick down.

The person handled a lab specimen of Mr. Duncan's, and has been symptom free for 19 days. She went on this trip because the CDC approved it. Until yesterday, all workers that had anything to do with Mr. Duncan's person or bodily fluids was not quarantined and were only to self-monitor. They were to live their daily lives including continuing to work while giving patient care as normal.

Yesterday, the CDC decided that these workers needed to be in quarantine as they decided they made a mistake in not doing so at the time and only requiring self-monitoring. Because of the new quarantine rule, the person did the correct thing in voluntarily quarantining themselves on the ship. The US sent transportation to Belize to remove the person and whoever he/she was traveling with so that they could could continue their quarantine in an appropriate place. Belize would not allow the cruise ship to dock, so there was no choice but the US having to remove the person and any traveling companions.

There is still no information that after 19 days that the person has suddenly become symptomatic. After 19 days with no symptoms having the person miss the rest of the trip in order to do two days of quarantine at which time they will be known to not be infected is rather horrible. Belize not allowing the ship to dock was nuts.

[Lars39]

10. A responsible person would not, should not put themselves in a situation or place

that would be problematic if they became symptomatic, regardless of what the CDC tells them.
Are these medical people not taught to err on the side of caution and to buck authority if they thought their instructions went against safety?

[procon]

12. Denial

It's human nature. Everyday, people who are overweight, don't exercise and consume the usual high fat, salty foods of the typical American diet, wonder why they had a heart attack. Look at how many people are totally surprised when the 'unloaded' gun the were cleaning goes off and kills someone. Drunk driver are always certain they are driving perfectly fine until the cop pulls them over.

Most people don't think about the consequences of the risks they take, let along consider how fragile their own mortality really is, so denial is protective defense mechanism.

[boston bean]

13. People no matter how smart can be stupid.

That is why we have public health laws and obviously public health officials in some way or another were not on the ball with isolating and checking and providing information to the health care workers who had contact with Duncan.

In fact, they just let the hospital tell them to self check and report. No one in public health was checking on them.

There is your major fuck up.

People who are KNOWN to be in contact with fluids of a person with confirmed ebola, should be strictly monitored by officials.

[GeorgeGist]

14. Poor leadership from this guy ...