At 100 or more new reported cases a day
(and, obviously, an unquantified number of unreported cases) coupled with the deliberate “removal” of dead victims from the official tally, it is apparent that the Ebola outbreak continues to rage and is far from contained.
As has been mentioned here and elsewhere in the Realism Blogosphere,  Math Just Is.  As the Daily Mail UK reports, scores of orphaned children left to care for themselves after close contact and sustained exposure to a parent or other caregiver who has died from Ebola are  “ticking timebombs”.
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To listen to the media versions of the Kaci Hickox story you might believe she is perceived as a celebrated heroine. However, the truth is fundamentally divergent. She is a visible personification of all things selfish, self-serving and smug; a pariah amid her own community.
As we shared last month: “at what cost do you want to fight – we the people”?
(MAINE) Nurse Kaci Hickox and her boyfriend are leaving Maine next week for parts unknown.
Hickox made national headlines last week when she fought efforts to quarantine her in New Jersey and Maine because she had just returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa.  Kaci Hickox and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, say they will stay in Maine through Monday, when a state court order expires. (more…)

Citing the experiences gleaned from responding to the SARS outbreak which impacted Singapore economically, the health ministy of Singapore announced the new restrictions which will become effective on Wednesday.
Singapore has negligible direct trade/ethnic ties to the affected west African nations, but did open a “trade and investment” outreach  office in Accra Ghana in an effort to secure a place as a clearing house/launching pad for west African trade with Asia and position itself at the head of the expected bow wave of development.
Citizens of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will need a visa to enter Singapore as part of measures against the spread of Ebola, the city-state’s health ministry said Monday.
 
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Another suspected (non-insured) Ebola patient is receiving expensive, time consuming medical attention after landing at Newark International Airport on Friday, clearing US Border and Customs Inspection and taking a long bus ride from New Jersey to a relative’s home in North Carolina before spiking a fever and contacting the CDC which triggered the hospital admission:
“….A male patient, age unknown, was transported today to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and is being tested this evening for Ebola virus infection.
The individual flew into Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday after traveling from Liberia through an unknown destination, then traveled to the Durham area on a commercial bus, according Aldona Wos, MD, secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
On Saturday, the individual was picked up by a relative and taken to the family’s home in Person County, north of Durham. After spiking a fever this morning, temperature unknown, the individual was transported to Duke Hospital and is currently isolated in a contained unit designated previous during training as the site for treatment of a potential Ebola patient.
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Neil Munro of The Daily Caller has an outline today exploring the EV-D68 virus against the backdrop of an increase to nine reported child deaths as a result of the virus spread: “Obama’s Border Policy Fueled Epidemic, Evidence Shows“.

One of the key takeaways from the Munro article is the unwillingness of CDC personnel to historically trace the source of the virus:

[…]  “In the current outbreak, there is one major group/clade which contains the vast majority of viruses, a minor group/clade that is related to the major group, and an outlier group/clade that has only a few viruses in it,” the CDC replied.

That’s critical information, because viral epidemics are usually powered by one new variety of a familiar virus. For example, the annual flu epidemics usually consist of a new mutation of an older flu virus. Because it is new, it bypasses immune responses that people acquired during prior flu waves, and then quickly jumps from person to person across the United States.

If confirmed, the presence of many strains would be further evidence that a population movement triggered the outbreaks, said Eden Wells, an assistant epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.

[…] When CDC officials were asked by TheDC to explain this multi-city, multi-strain anomaly, they waffled: “There is no evidence that unaccompanied children brought EV-D68 to the United States; we are not aware of any of these children testing positive for the virus,” Oberste replied. (more…)

Great article at Canada Free Press – […]  Mary Mallon, “the most dangerous woman in America” was born in Ireland and later worked as a cook for wealthy families in New York.
She was the first known carrier of typhoid fever in the USA, and although without any symptoms, she was still contagious and continued to spread the disease to at least 53 persons (who spread it to others), three of whom died.
It is thought she infected 50 others who died but it could not be determined since she changed her name so often. She refused to stop working as a cook and was confined to a hospital where she died 20 years later.
Mary worked as a cook from 1900 to 1907 in New York City area and within two weeks of her employment, residents developed typhoid fever. Then she moved to New York City where members of the family for whom she worked developed fever and diarrhea, and the laundress died.
Mallon then went to work for a lawyer; she quit after seven of the eight people in that household became ill. She took other positions in Long Island, and left a trail of infection everywhere. She always resigned when family members became ill. (more…)

The erosion of state’s rights, and the triumph of optics over common sense continues:

FORT KENT Maine (Reuters) – Declaring Ebola fears in the United States “not entirely rational,” a judge rejected Maine’s bid for a quarantine on a nurse who treated victims of the disease in West Africa but tested negative for it, and instead imposed limited restrictions.

CANADA – Canada is following in Australia’s footsteps and is suspending visa applications for residents and nationals of the West African countries battling Ebola.
The federal government signalled it would stop issuing visas in the worker, student or visitor class and won’t issue any pending permanent residency visas for people from those countries either.
Any applications already in the system will also not be processed at this time. (more…)

… NO, not really.  But she might as well.

In the latest round of selfish self-advancement Ms. Hickox says the reasonable requests of the Maine Governor LaPage and Public Health Department are ridiculous, stupid and impede on her ability to purchase her Grande Mocha Latte’s.
The Public Health Department and Governor outlined the precautions she must follow.  They included CDC guidelines outlining what Maine considers an in-home quarantine: (more…)