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If Ebola becomes a problem in the United States, it won't be because the
experts here don't know how to handle it; it will be because there is
not an adequate system in place to keep potential patients from walking
into a crowded medical facility once their symptoms have appeared, and
because whatever random place that patient walks into will be unprepared
in that moment to deal with the situation. It seems like nipping this
thing in the bud is not impossible, but its definitely
looking like its going to be more challenging than was first suggested.
A couple of ideas I heard were an 800 number for people to call if they
think they've been infected (but how many operators would you need for
that line, and how would teams respond to all the calls they get?) and a
designated reporting location in a particular town for people to go to
(but could you get that information to everyone who might be infected?)
Hopefully we'll learn quickly. If what the nurses who complained in
Texas are saying is true (and it sounds very plausible), I'm more concerned than I was before about our ability to cut this thing off. There
is a big difference between the odds of a disease spreading if all
patients are being treated in a CDC-Class biocontainment facility, and
the odds of that same disease spreading if those same patients are
walking into their Dr.'s offices or local emergency rooms. I'm not
alarmed yet, I'm just a bit more worried about the outcome of this than I
was yesterday.
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