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Showing posts from October, 2014

Ebola: Politicizing and Fear Mongering

  “ Clowns to the left of me ,   Jokers to the right , here I am, Stuck in the middle with you .”   And that is how I feel again this week.   This week two politically-focused state governors, Democrat Andrew Cuomo of New York and Republican Chris Christie ignored federal guidance and guidelines and imposed their own 21 day quarantine policies for all those returning from Ebola-stricken West African countries.   Cuomo, specifically has been trying to have it both ways as he claims to want to protect the citizens of New York State while also praising the efforts of the selfless Dr. Craig Spencer.   According to reports, Spencer had been in Guinea for a month before leaving on October 14 th and subsequently becoming symptomatic on   October 23 rd after strictly following the Doctors Without Borders guidelines for personnel returning home from West Africa.   Now giving into fear and mistrust Cuomo and Christie are going rogue, because after all the federal government is incap

The Sabbatical is Over, The Digg is Back

He’s baaaaaack.  Yes after months of personally imposed sequestration, Digg is back.  The last few months of inane absurdity by the media, government, and the general public has brought me back.  It’s not about you, it’s about me and my need for catharsis.  Now, let’s hit the pressure relief valve: Ebola: Any disease with no known cure and a mortality rate approaching 70% can be frightful.  But it is not easily transmitted.  If it were, the dozens of people who interacted with Thomas Eric Duncan before he died would also have contracted the disease.  The calls to ban flights from West Africa are a panic-driven response as there are NO direct flights from the hardest hit nations in West Africa.  Should we ban flights from Brussels, London, Paris, Frankfurt too?  These restrictions have never worked in the past.  To  combat the disease, WHO states “ Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks. Good outbreak control relies on applying a package of interventio