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The Centers for Disease Control Loses Its Grip
I have lived long enough, now, to have seen it again and again. Something goes badly wrong involving a corporation, a university, a religious denomination, or a branch of government, and the executive in charge or a designated minion goes before the press to engage in what is euphemistically called “damage control.” The spokesman does not level with the public. He or she tries to be reassuring and — more often than not — by lying, succeeds in undermining confidence in the institution he or she represents.
This is what is now going on with the Centers for Disease Control. In recent years, this well-respected outfit has branched out, opining in a politically correct manner on one issue after another outside its proper remit. Now it is faced with a matter absolutely central to its responsibilities — actual disease control — and it flips and flops and flounders because the ultimate boss, the President of the United States, cannot bring himself to put limits on contacts between Americans and the citizens of the countries in Africa where there is an Ebola epidemic.
There is only one way to prevent the spread of an epidemic, and that is quarantine. No medical professional with any sense would suggest that we should admit individuals from Liberia to the United States at this time, and no medical professional worth his or her salt would say that we can test for the disease when the prospective visitor arrives at Immigration and Passport Control. Like most diseases, Ebola has an incubation period. Early on, there are no symptoms: none at all. There is no reliable way to tell whether those arriving at our ports of entry have contracted the disease or not. If we do not want it coming here, for a time, we have to keep everyone out who has been in that neck of the woods.
And what are we told by the authorities? That cutting off contact would contribute to the spread of the epidemic. “Just how?” we are entitled to ask. But no explanation is given because, of course, there is none. We were also told that the disease would not come here. And, when it did come here, we were told that it could easily be contained. And, when it was not contained and a medical professional wearing all the proper gear came down with the disease, we were told that he did not follow the protocol.
Perhaps, the medical professional in question really did fail to follow the protocol, though, he apparently has no notion how he fell short. Perhaps, that is it; then again, perhaps not. Honesty would require that the director of the CDC tell the truth — which is, that he does not know how this particular individual contracted Ebola.
But this he cannot say. For that would cause us to worry, and his responsibility, as he and those above him conceive it, is to cover for the President of the United States. In fact, he works for thee and me. Our taxes make it possible for him to draw a paycheck. But this, in company with nearly everyone in the Obama administration, he has somehow forgotten; and so, in a servile fashion, he goes out in public to defend with forked tongue a policy he and every medical professional in the country knows is madness.
The truth is simple. There is an epidemic in Africa. The disease that is spreading like wildfire is horrible beyond imagination. We have suspicions as to how it spreads, but we do not know for sure. The only certain way to avoid its propagation is to avoid contact, and the President of the United States, who operates in an intellectual bubble, is unwilling to do what it is necessary to do to prevent people in the country he is sworn to serve and defend from coming into contact with contagious individuals who have the disease.
It is the duty of public servants, such as the Director of the CDC, to speak the truth in public. We are, after all, a self-governing people, and we ought not to be treated as little children who need to be reassured even when the news is anything but reassuring. But speaking the truth in all frankness and admitting ignorance seems beyond this man. Were he to do so, were he in public to say what every competent medical professional understands — that to prevent this plague from coming to North America we need to refuse for a time to accept visitors from much of Africa — he would no doubt be cashiered by the man whom, at the ballot box, we put in charge. And being cashiered he fears far more than deserving to be cashiered.
There was a time — I remember that time — when public officials and even political appointees resigned when called upon to carry out a policy they sincerely thought to be contrary to the interests of the American people. There was a time when public servants had a powerful sense of their own dignity and conducted themselves in a manner suited to free human beings. But that time appears to have passed — and those who hold high office act today as if they were the President’s slaves.
What a country we have become! We have journalists who prostitute themselves for a political party. We have civil servants who will gaily break the law for partisan purposes. We have cabinet members who do not believe in the policies they are called upon to implement, but who do not resign. We have an Attorney General who thinks that the obstruction of justice is his job. And we have a Congress unwilling to call anyone to account.
I fear for my country.
Image Credit: “CDC Headquarters PHIL 10693” by James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – http://www.cdc.gov/media/subtopic/library/building.htm. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Published in General
Maybe not enough info in the story, but it seems like Firestone was able to contain it there.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/10/06/354054915/firestone-did-what-governments-have-not-stopped-ebola-in-its-tracks
via
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/10/07/in-liberia-firestone-held-ebola-at-bay-where-governments-failed/
AIG,
Yours is a huge and ridiculous straw man argument. You manufacture a conservative critic straw man that doesn’t exist and then scream that you don’t abide by his pressuring of CDC. All of the rational criticism of CDC made by Dr. Rahe, others on Richochet, most of the media and my own personal experience with a similar level of danger have been confirmed by the head of the CDC himself in the last 24 hours. It is obvious that simply reciting the standards and accusing the nurse of failure with no proof whatsoever is an absurdly irresponsible stance. Automatically taking travel restrictions off the table also seems completely inappropriate considering the risk level.
Health care professionals need to get prepared for this in every way. Happy bromides and throwing a competent worker under the bus to maintain the happy face will only stall and confuse the process.
I think the head of the CDC has openly agreed with this assessment. I think it is obvious where his first speech came from. A desire to suppress a negative story. The climate of left wing ideology over facts and good judgement is what we have been fighting for the last six years.
W.H.O. is now talking also. The mild criticism by responsible parties on the right may have saved many lives as it allowed responsible authorities to come forward early without fear of political reprisal. Only time will tell. My conscience is clear is yours?
Regards,
Jim
There is a fallacy in the argument that AIG presents that I pointed out in my previous comment that he has not confronted.
The head of the CDC — the figure who is doing the talking — is not a man who is risking his life in the field. He is not putting his money or his life where his mouth is. His well-being depends on pleasing the man upstairs.
I suspect, however, that AIG understands this perfectly well and did so from the get-go. His aim, to judge from the character of his ranting, is merely to sow confusion and waste our time.
Great point.
Whoa, now. Maybe I haven’t been paying enough attention, but I haven’t seen any trolling or anything to indicate that “His aim … is merely to sow confusion and waste our time.”
If we have trolls in our midst, they should be moderated and/or banned.
Barring that, shouldn’t we assume good faith?
The ricochet forum has its limitations as far as discussions go.
There may have been an ounce of merit in the idea of allowing nested comments.
I had no idea so many Africans were licking corpses and ingesting vomit. If your statement were correct there would be no need for any precautions beyond a simple mask and a pair of gloves.
to AIG
Got a news flash for you skippy. The experts at the CDC, all those suits and clipboard administrator types, are not going to be greeting cases as they roll into the ER. I am. My friends are. The front line paramedics, doctors and nurses around America. We understand how hard actually DEALING with this is going to be if it gets established here. The establishment agenda at CDC is to protect their funding, their institutions and their political bosses who have made the decision that they will not limit travel or control the border. Everything else is secondary to that.
It wasn’t my statement. Read the article before making snarky comments please.
Africa is not America.
Africa has problems with poverty which causes problems with nutrition and proper rest. Many of the poor live in close quarters. Medical facilities are also poor, so those caring for the sick are overworked, making it easy to make mistakes.
Also, read comment #91.
Sanitation in the third world isn’t great, and it’s worse when people have weird rituals involving human remains, or eating bats and things.
Can we get Michael Fumento on the Ricochet podcast?
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/salem-radio/dennis-prager-radio-show/e/prager-20140806-01-ebola-35038261
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/salem-radio/dennis-prager-radio-show/e/prager-20141001-03-ebola-35559743
What you said:
captainpower: Michael Fumento, an anti-hysteric with a track record, says that scientists are stoking fears by broadening the list of likely transmission methods. In reality, blood or vomit in your mouth is the way it is transmitted.
You made a simplistic statement that begged for snark.
If things were that simple we wouldn’t have the major problem that we do.
And as I type a SECOND healthcare worker in Dallas has tested positive.
This just in, Michael Fumento not withstanding,
We believe there is scientific and epidemiologic evidence that Ebola virus has the potential to be transmitted via infectious aerosol particles both near and at a distance from infected patients, which means that healthcare workers should be wearing respirators, not facemasks.1
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/commentary-health-workers-need-optimal-respiratory-protection-ebola
Those are not exactly common equipment on our ambulances and in our ER’s.
The primary way to stop this nonsense is A TRAVEL BAN. PERIOD.
Before it spreads to larger areas and makes that impossible.
Now, since a travel ban is not a perfect defense, we should not do it at all. Unless you can give things that work 100% there is no reason to even try them.
Next you will be saying a wall would decrease people sneaking into the country. But since it won’t stop every last person, clearly, it is also a bad idea.
Stop being so hysterical. And Racist. ;)
For the record, I am not seeing hysteria. There are no mass demonstrations, increased civil unrest, et al. Just folks saying, hmmm, “Ebola is a level 4 biohazard that if you come into contact with it has a 50/50 chance of killing you inside of 2 months and for which there is no vaccine; maybe we ought to take simple precautions like restricting travel from places that have already quarantined a million people and firing the talking head at the CDC in whom we have lost confidence.”
Now this from a report on Fox News.
Paul & Instu & Kozak,
We have a second case and now we have an honest reporting on what happened to the nurses at the hospital. It’s too bad this had to come from the nurse’s union. However, a culture of arrogance and political polemics is standard operating procedure for this administration.
I’ll give the CDC head credit as he has already recognized the quick sand he is standing in and has changed his tone about 180 degrees. Unfortunately, he has lost credibility and will not have it back for quite some time.
The critics from the right didn’t make this happen. Left wing arrogance and Gd’s not so easy universe did this. If anything the critics may have helped to save many lives. We are on the right course now. We’ll see how bad it gets.
Regards,
Jim
Now the CDC director is saying that people who have been exposed will not fly. But the ban is only in effect within the US.
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/10/15/cdc-directors-credibility-collapses-a-series-of-tweets/
Asymptomatic healthcare worker who is being monitored? NO FLY ZONE
West African from epidemic area ? WELCOME ABOARD ENJOY YOUR VISIT TO THE US
This is getting really ridiculous.
I’m betting that one or at most 2 more imported cases and a travel ban will be enforced.
That’s the most extreme definition of hysteria. I doubt anyone in these threads has meant that. Likewise, describing “panic” or “freaking out” doesn’t mean anxiety attacks and hysterical screaming, it means speculation not supported by facts (i.e. ebola has mutated, this time is different, etc – things that may be true, but that we don’t know and don’t have reason to believe).
The more common usage of hysteria in our society is to describe outsized concern with things.
For example, many on the Right believe that our societal concern with climate disruption/climate change/global warming is outsized. Some such as Bjorn Lomborg even believe it’s a real phenomenon but that we need to measure our response.
Some recent hysterias:
@CaptainPowerI can
As Fred is not complaining of those other events on a reasonably recurring basis, I can only conclude that he is arguing against my examples of hysteria and not yours.
Then again, the little old lady that sat next to me on my flight from Dallas to Dayton today DID ask my other seatmate and I whether or not we had traveled to West Africa recently. Clearly, she was beside herself with anxiety. And Panic. And Hysteria and was totally unhelpful to boot.
That’s OK, I put her carryon in the overhead bin and retrieved it upon landing.