Reports of cholera outbreaks now in Puerto Rico...

[HipChick]

Link to tweet

[Madam45for2923]

1. Oh no!

[riversedge]

2. Cholera is highly contagious and in PR when there is little good sanitation, we are looking

at a crisis if this is not hit hard NOW!

[Strelnikov_]

4. I agree

They need to be surging medics loaded up with supplies of IV fluids.

[haele]

10. Cholera is a horrible way to die.

It's also one of those diseases that you can seem healthy enough in the morning, and be dead after horrible suffering 12 hours later. At least 50% mortality rate among a reasonably healthy population. If you do survive, you'll wish you were dead for weeks afterwards.

Without access to medical treatment soon after the symptoms start, there will be a lot of people in remote areas who will die.



Haele

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. Oh dear god.

[riversedge]

30. I took some History of Medicine and Science classes in grad school. Lots was written

about this horrible disease. I recall a physician named Snow discovered a germ in the water of London. Once discovered, the epidemic evaded slowly but took lots of education. Also a writer--Charles Rosenberg has wonderful books articles on the disease. So much has to do with good sanitation. And quick treatment like you said.

[Hortensis]

60. Possible. It's fecal borne. It was in Haiti in 2010. But note that it does

not spring up out of nothing. Poor sanitation won't cause an outbreak if there are no Vibrio cholerae to break out. But there's always something, especially in tropical climates.

[Strelnikov_]

3. This is about to get real

Recovery is nearly 100% with access to a simple IV. Without, I recall a 50% mortality rate.

[riversedge]

5. I saw reports yesterday that folks were drinking from streams. Dead animals--others?

laying all around and in the streams and rivers. Cholera most likely in their water supply-or some of it by now.

[HipChick]

7. omg

[underpants]

8. The mayor mentioned that

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz on Friday morning ripped into Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke for calling the government's Puerto Rico response a "good news story."

After hearing Duke's comments, Cruz told CNN it was "irresponsible" to spin the island's devastation so positively.

“Maybe from where she’s standing, it’s a good news story,” the mayor said. “When you’re drinking from a creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s not a good news story.”

Cruz said that as the devastation continues to worsen, people are scrambling to find food, especially in rural areas where supplies are not able to reach as easily.

[Hortensis]

62. A lesson to all of us. Everyone taking it, hopefully? A LifeStraw, just for instance,

may last a single person over a year and costs about $15. It's not a complete defense but a miracle compared to nothing. We have one in each vehicle.

In the house on a basement shelf a couple bottles of bleach (at 6-8 drdops/gallon they'd serve the whole neighborhood) and a few clear plastic and glass bottles, saved instead of tossing, for using the sun's rays to disinfect water (soldis technique).

We also have a couple weeks plus of bottled water for the two of us (six 5-gallon bottles and a dozen or so quarts) because we're getting along and hauling heavy water a few hundred yards up a steep hill from a nearby lake would get old almost as fast as standing in line in the sun in San Juan, and then hauling it home. (In addition to a cranky old generator for our well.)

We're in a rural area, no expectation of FEMA out here of course, but at least we do have a a lake. Those without a water supply within carry distance need to find more places to store bottles. Crawl spaces, normally unused anyway, would be great. Btw, those cheap gallons from the market tend to leak after a while.

Btw, people who think they'd have warning, or no crawl space, could purchase large (up to like 100 gallon) water storage "bladders" for very little that would take up very little room until they were used (such as in a bathtub or outside at the bottom of a downspout), but I just checked Amazon and several sellers are out. Purchase ahead of need.

[underpants]

6. Great. Just great.

[irisblue]

9. WTH.

Americans are sick from this ?

[NastyRiffraff]

11. Oh my god

This is genocide. There is NO EXCUSE for waiting eight days to even start to bring medical supplies to the island.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. Some news reports say the real problem isn't that the supplies haven't arrived,

it's that they are sitting in containers at the docks and there is nobody to unload or transport them, or to clear off the blocked roads so the trucks can get through. So what might really be needed is a very large military contingent who can do those things.

[NastyRiffraff]

22. "It didn't require a 3-star general eight days ago."

So said Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert:

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. It sure as hell required more forethought eight days ago.

[Leith]

34. Best Post of the Week!

Heck, best post of the year.

[pangaia]

38. Boy, that douchbag is really good at what he does..Did he even breathe during all that?

It's what he does that sucks..

[SharonAnn]

66. It required a 3-star general immediately. Even I knew that!

[mopinko]

14. there is no excuse for waiting till after the god damned storm.

how you can not be prepared for a disaster that you can see coming for a fucking week is a damn crime.
uss comfort should have been on the way before the damn storm even hit the island. how it could have not been stocked until now is a case study in incompetence.

and we should have gotten as many people as possible off the island BEFORE the storm. leaving travelers stranded was insane.

[Lee-Lee]

41. That was an East Caost storm and the Comfort is based on the East Coast

Should they have seamed into the storm?

[RandomAccess]

52. Oh please

Irma was NOT an East Coast storm -- it swept up Florida and then dissipated in Georgia and Alabama. While there was no way to know its course for sure before it happened, there was also absolutely no reason not to have the USS Comfort ready to go once they knew. Under the circumstances, she could have sailed the next damn day after it hit FL mainland, or even before potentially.

[B2G]

54. Nope. Jose was right behind Irma

and was a Cat 5 at that point.

[RandomAccess]

58. And swerved out to sea in short order

[B2G]

59. I think you're thinking about Lee

Jose tracked further west. Right in the path of a ship heading from the East Coast and Puerto Rico.

The east coast got lucky with Jose, but the the NC coast got incredible waves and was under craft advisories for days. And he moved SLOW.

[RandomAccess]

68. Yeah, I've gotten my hurricanes confused

because there were so MANY of them this year (and the season's not over!)

[B2G]

69. I know what you mean.

[Lee-Lee]

42. Disaster preparedness before is largely the role of the local:state/territory

And the Feds only come in when their planning falls short.

Lots of missed steps on every level here.

[niyad]

12. while orange congratulates himself on what an "amazing job" he and his cohorts are doing there.

[mopinko]

15. heck of a job, little donnie.

[niyad]

16. no kidding.

[LiberalArkie]

33. Heck of a job Blondie..

[Eliot Rosewater]

28. Quite simply the death of a few million brown people will mean absolutely nothing

less than nothing, to deplorables.

[pangaia]

39. yup... living on an island while brown..or with a 'Latino(a)' name..or....

[Hortensis]

67. Don't forget 2018. The Grim Reper's deadly enemy.

Holding power means a lot, even if you're dreadfully right otherwise.

[LuckyCharms]

17. Dystopian. So horrible. n/t

[flamingdem]

18. Rapidly turning into a nightmare

Obama handled Haiti so much better and it's not a part of the USA!

[democrank]

19. This is awful

We freaking went to the moon and we can't get to the desperate people in Puerto Rico ?

[forgotmylogin]

29. The Dotard is all "You can't drive a truck there!"

[maxsolomon]

20. I said this yesterday: Cholera is when you know they're fucking up.

Its Objective proof that Trump's FEMA is a failure.

But, you know, they can just lie and point the finger at Obama, brown people, the Ocean, etc. The flibberdigibbet voters will forget a year from now.

[MineralMan]

21. Terrible. It was bound to happen, but was made

worse by the slow response to supply clean drinking water. Trump owns some of the blame for this.

[panader0]

24. Lots of DUers think it just can't be done. Unreal.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029646303

[AtheistCrusader]

46. There's a whole lot of cold hard reality in that thread.

You'd do well to read it carefully, and maybe ask questions instead of being combative.

Reality gives not one fuck what kind of person occupies the white house.

[dalton99a]

25. The orange Caligula is enjoying this.

[B2G]

27. Time for Marital Law

and let the military take over everything. No other option.

[More_Cowbell]

31. Could water purification tablets just be dropped?

I've seen lots of bottled water being donated, but it seems like a helicopter or even drones could drop tablets. Though I guess they'd already be doing that, if it was feasible.

[wryter2000]

32. This is Trump's fault

He, personally, caused this.

[DBoon]

35. Absolutely

Every president is responsible for the actions of the executive branch.

Even more so Trump, who demands complete loyalty and refuses to allow any independent action

[orangecrush]

36. Horrible

[rainin]

37. Please blame Ryan and McConnell

for EVERYTHING. They should feel the heat for every misstep, every tweet, every hateful word or deed that happens. We all know who our President is. We continue to ignore who has the power to undo this travesty.

[onecent]

40. This whole thing is CAUSED BY TRUMP....HE IS A ONE NARCISSISTIC PERSON i HAVE

EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. He COMPLIICATED ALL THIS STUFF FROM HAPPENING..

Oh yeah, the governor said trump talked to him 5 times a day......

I think personally, dotard, need to get himself drunk....bastard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pangaia]

43. "We're too incompetent or uncaring to get them water?"

Incompetent? No.
Uncaring? yes

It is INTENTIONAL 100% Intentional..

Think Vladislav Surko, Alexander Dugin, Bannon, Putin, et all.


It is part of the destruction of western democracy..
This is Non-linear warfare
WAKE UP PEOPLE !!! (Not you Hip chick, ALL of us)

The REAL monsters are Republicans for letting this and everything else happen. They could stop it in a minute.

[greatauntoftriplets]

44. This is a direct result of all the time that herr drumpf wasted looking for Puerto Rico.

This should weigh heavily on his conscience for eternity, if he had a conscience. I hope he rots.

[kimbutgar]

45. This is a major humanitarian crisis and this is worst than bushes katrina

I will forever call it the twitler genocide. Could it be The hedge fund guy PAul Singer telling twitler to take slow action? You can't squeeze out money from a dry well.

[barbtries]

47. i expected this.

it's what happens when there's no clean water right?

[Cryptoad]

48. Since Fema has been caught on MSNBC video selling ICE

would not be surprise if they were not also selling water rather than giving it away to those in need.

[B2G]

49. Do you have a link? nt

[Cryptoad]

53. I saw it this morning on MSNBC

shortly after they were talking to the King of Fema and even with a video of it he denied it was happening...... no link,,,,

[Mrs. Overall]

50. What? What fucking century are we in?

[B2G]

56. Cholera doesn't go by a calendar.

If the right conditions exist, it will emerge.

[Mrs. Overall]

61. Yes, you are right, but cholera is absolutely preventable now--

a quick and well-planned response from the government would make these sorts of diseases a non issue.

[B2G]

64. I'm afraid the magnitude of what happened

Precluded that possibility.

[benld74]

51. Prayers sent to PR

[PatrickforO]

55. These are fellow Americans.

The sickness, starvation and death of these people are on Trump, his criminal, treasonous administration, and the Republicans in Congress.

Do you know, I wrote my Republican Senator a letter of disgust about waiving the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, and he sent me back a reply that didn't even mention Hurricane Maria.

I just called his office, and was told that Puerto Rico is farther away. I laughed and said, yes, our president said that it is an island surrounded by lots of water. He didn't get the humor in that.

But, to his (mild) credit, (because we still want to cast him out of office this next election), this Republican senator is trying to pressure the Department of Energy to get the power grid in Puerto Rico fixed as soon as possible. We all know Rick Perry, so we'll see how that goes. Perhaps if he can successfully lace up his shoes and put on his pants tomorrow morning, Secretary Perry will do....something?

[malaise]

57. I knew this was coming

Dead animals in droves, water full of sewage and just across the Caribbean sea cholera in Haiti given to them by the Nepalese peace brigade

Just wait for dengue, Chick V and Zika. Then they'll know a real good news story.

[brooklynite]

63. THERE ARE NO DOCUMENTED CASES OF CHOLERA !!!

Listen, I have a friend who's a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who specializes in covering disease outbreaks (she advised the Obama Administration on Ebola policy). I checked with her and she can find no documented cases of Cholera in Puerto Rico.

[juxtaposed]

65. Let us know when there is an outbreak

[cannabis_flower]

70. Yeah

When I saw this I googled Puerto Rico and cholera and all I found was that there are worries that cholera is possible. No stories on confirmed cases.

[malaise]

71. You want more bad news

Puerto Rico is on flash flood watch as I type

[HipChick]

72. standing water...heat and mosquitos..

[malaise]

73. Yep

Dengue, Chick V and Zika