If you knew someone had ebola, but wasn't yet showing symptoms, would you invite them over for dinner?

10/26/2014 8:42:28 PM

they'd have to be showing symptoms to know they have ebola

10/26/2014 9:43:40 PM

lets not kids ourselves here rjrumfel

i seriously doubt you hang out with anyone who spends any amount of time in africa

10/26/2014 10:01:11 PM

It doesnt matter what he did before he was contagious.

10/26/2014 10:04:54 PM

^^I have a friend at work that goes to Sudan about twice a year.

10/26/2014 10:11:37 PM

At least NY's quarantine lets you stay at home, that's a bit more reasonable than NJ at least

(I'd meet with someone who had been in Africa if they were not sick, I'd love to hear stories about it.)

Quote :

"^^I have a friend at work that goes to Sudan about twice a year."

Sudan is not in west Africa, it's over 2,000 miles from the Ebola outbreak.

Does your friend who goes to Sudan avoid you since you are closer to Ebola than he is in Sudan?

[Edited on October 26, 2014 at 10:17 PM. Reason : .]

10/26/2014 10:14:20 PM

"hey we are medical professionals and know exactly how to prevent ebola from spreading"

"oh look, i have ebola."

"i'm going to go [e]bowling"

10/26/2014 10:24:40 PM

hey dtownral, yowilly didn't specify west Africa, he just said Africa. Don't try to make me look stupid with your vast knowledge of google maps. This person, along with his friend who I don't know very well, are the only folks I know that are from Africa.

10/27/2014 6:51:49 AM

Quote :

"Why do Smath74 and rjrumfel keep falling for Fox News-style paranoia?"

Because conservatives are naturally more fearful, and this response tends to overwhelm logic.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201104/conservatives-big-fear-brain-study-finds

10/27/2014 12:01:03 PM

Quote :

"If you knew someone had ebola, but wasn't yet showing symptoms, would you invite them over for dinner?"

would you hug someone who had fully recovered from the disease?

10/27/2014 12:17:28 PM

I wouldn't use the same bathroom as someone with HIV.

10/27/2014 12:21:10 PM

i avoid menstruating women

(because of the bears)

10/27/2014 12:29:23 PM

both NJ and NY have backtracked, NJ now allows self-quarantine at home

10/27/2014 12:34:02 PM

They backed off because our president is meddling where he doesn't need to be meddling. Didn't the CDC say that how quarantines were handled would be left up to the state?

10/27/2014 2:11:55 PM

its always Obama's fault isn't it

10/27/2014 2:20:40 PM

damn meddling President and his worrying of how states treat their citizens

10/27/2014 2:39:55 PM

No not always.

I put the blame regarding the mess in Iraq solely on the invasion. Should stayed out. Sure Obama could've handled things better, but it isn't his fault that it is such a mess now. I'm sure I could find some other things that aren't his fault. The panthers lost this weekend. I don't blame him for that.

10/27/2014 2:40:24 PM

hypothetical:

should we actually laud returning health workers from Africa if someone state-side dies as a result of transmission of the virus? (due to negligence or not)

10/28/2014 7:33:14 AM

No. No we shouldn't. And if it IS due to negligence, then they need to be charged with a crime.

How many people die from negligence and someone else gets charged with manslaughter? I don't see that it is any different here. And what that NY doctor did, in my mind, comes pretty close to negligence. The nurse that got on that plane? Definitely negligence.

10/28/2014 8:08:47 AM

There's an article floating around Cotonou, where I live, saying that there's an ebola case here now. Should I be barred from entering the US or forced into quarantine?

Having asked, this is about the 12th article to claim that, so I'm not real worried

10/28/2014 9:27:23 AM

Quote :

"ypothetical: should we actually laud returning health workers from Africa if someone state-side dies as a result of transmission of the virus? (due to negligence or not)"

yes, medical workers who volunteer and travel to west Africa to fight ebola on the front lines to try to stop the outbreak should be celebrated as heroes.

i'm very surprised that someone who is so afraid of the threat of ebola (rjrumfel) would disagree. if one believes that ebola is a threat to the US or to the world, they should celebrate those who volunteer to fight the threat in the same way that they celebrate anyone else who volunteers to defend the country.

10/28/2014 9:38:59 AM

notice the bold "IF"

call me a nimby or whatever, but the possibility of someone bringing the virus back and infecting someone else stateside really bothers me. I don't want that shit just because it's a problem on another continent, you know? Is it likely that I will get it, no, but, the possibility is real for many people, and their quality of life should not be affected because of someone else's decision to 'help others'.

(this applies in many scenarios, yes)

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 10:11 AM. Reason : -]

10/28/2014 10:10:27 AM

10/28/2014 10:20:12 AM

You people act like this is Captain Trips.

10/28/2014 10:47:07 AM

So what, exactly, is your plan? Just say "Fuck everybody else" and lock down the borders? Doctors and nurses go to Africa (and elsewhere) to help with any number of diseases, not just Ebola. What if some poor nurse inadvertently catches TB? Sometimes you can't detect that for a while, and it's a scary disease. What about AIDS? What about unknown diseases? Are those doctors assholes because they tried to provide help?

And of course, it means the end for Africa. They don't have enough doctors. To learn how to become doctors, they either need Western instructors to go to Africa, or they need to come study in the west. But we can't have that, can we, they might be bringing the scary disease with them.

Also, no more imports from abroad. Who knows what those sailors might have on them.

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 11:24 AM. Reason : ]

10/28/2014 11:24:36 AM

Quote :

"And what that NY doctor did, in my mind, comes pretty close to negligence. The nurse that got on that plane? Definitely negligence."

how many times do you have to be told that unless you come in contact with bodily fluids, you have a zero percent chance of contracting the disease? the doctor was showing no symptoms while he was out, meaning he would be unable to spread the disease.

have you read any first-hand accounts of what dealing with the guy who died in Dallas was like? or seen the 60 Minutes piece in which a number of nurses gave their accounts of what was going on? he was basically puking and shitting 24/7, at levels that none of the nurses had ever seen before.

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 11:52 AM. Reason : ^ I asked that question a few pages ago, and shockingly, nobody could answer it]

10/28/2014 11:50:16 AM

Quote :

"call me a nimby or whatever, but the possibility of someone bringing the virus back and infecting someone else stateside really bothers me. I don't want that shit just because it's a problem on another continent, you know? Is it likely that I will get it, no, but, the possibility is real for many people, and their quality of life should not be affected because of someone else's decision to 'help others'."

but if no one goes to 'help others' (i'm not sure why that is in quotes), then there is no chance of stoping Ebola where it currently is. Someone has to go 'help others' because its the only way to slow and stop the outbreak, the other option would be to let it to continue to proliferate and spread.

Worrying about someone bringing it back is silly because 1) there will still be people coming to the US who will be infected, we will continue to see a few cases here and there until the outbreak is over and 2) the secondary infections have all been care workers who are working directly with patients.

There is no risk of a general outbreak here in the US, if everyone followed your protectionist outlook we would have no chance of fighting ebola and keeping it contained in western Africa.

10/28/2014 12:24:45 PM

Obama: Ebola guidelines 'based on science'
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/28/obama-ebola-aid-workers-west-africa/18059485/

Quote :

" President Obama pledged support for health care and aid workers in West Africa Tuesday, saying new rules for monitoring them for Ebola once they return to the United States would be "sensible and based on science.""

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 4:06 PM. Reason : ]

10/28/2014 3:55:35 PM

such a meddler

10/28/2014 4:01:54 PM

probably fake science, like climate change and polling

10/28/2014 4:04:38 PM

relating to my original statement:

say your {mother/sig. other/brother/niece} got Ebola from someone via negligence/etc., how would you feel about it? what if they died as a result?

Do you accept it as collateral damage, for a just cause, simply because we have to help Africa?

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 4:33 PM. Reason : -]

10/28/2014 4:32:51 PM

how is Ebola any different than any other infectious disease that can kill?

you really wanna go down that road?

10/28/2014 4:34:53 PM

But there's probably a 99.9% chance she wouldn't get it unless she was handling the bodily fluid of someone who was obviously sick.

10/28/2014 4:35:19 PM

Quote :

"how is Ebola any different than any other infectious disease that can kill? you really wanna go down that road?"

getting puked on in a public setting (hypothetical) is much different than anal sex with that one you just met (hypothetical). I guess if you're a nurse and contract the virus one could say that's a choice because you willingly chose to go to work.

Guys, I'm just posing hypothetical scenarios as I thought it was interesting.


also, I feel better now:




[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 4:47 PM. Reason : =]

10/28/2014 4:40:45 PM

Quote :

" Do you accept it as collateral damage, for a just cause, simply because we have to help Africa? "

It's not because we have to help Africa, it's because if we don't stop ebola IN parts of Africa, it will always be a problem for your mom/sister/aunt/whatever. Stopping ebola in Africa helps America, it helps your mom and sister and wife.

What if ebola in africa kills a good samaritan that would one day come to America and stop your wife from being killed? Doesn't that mean we should be doing MORE to fight ebola in Africa?

What if a health worker comes back carrying ebola, and it infects a really evil man that would one day become Hitler?

Coming up with extremely unlikely scenarios to justify policies not based in reason or logic or science is not a good practice.

10/28/2014 4:49:26 PM

Quote :

" Coming up with extremely unlikely scenarios to justify policies not based in reason or logic or science is not a good practice."

That is a very logical rationale; and honestly I like your response.

10/28/2014 4:55:13 PM

australia has shut their borders

theyre done for

10/28/2014 5:28:16 PM

Quote :

" Are those doctors assholes because they tried to provide help?"

No, they are assholes because they can't wait three fucking weeks in quarantine in order to make sure they don't transmit the disease to someone else. That level of selfishness is what makes them assholes. This cunt in NJ is complaining because her feelings were hurt? She felt bad? Great, she wants to go home and wait it out. Voluntary quarantine works sooooooooo well, don't you know? And if she does wake up with a fever, fuck, she can just wave her hand and magically appear at on of the few hospitals where we're treating Ebola cases, right? Oh, and we won't have to disinfect her house or anywhere else she's been, and even if we did, it's not that hard, right? Nope, we really should inconvenience hundreds, maybe thousands of other people, just so we don't hurt her precious little feelings.

Or, we could expect healthcare workers to understand the serious nature of the threat of Ebola and the need to contain it. We could expect healthcare workers to appreciate the importance of not needlessly exposing others to the risks of such a devastating disease. We could expect healthcare workers who really care about helping others to say "yeah, it sucks, but three extra weeks on this 5-10 week trip isn't too bad." If you're really that selfish that you can't wait three weeks to make sure you don't give anyone else fucking Ebola, then just sit your ass at home and don't get yourself exposed; we're truly sorry that you would be so inconvenienced, and that reasonable precautions against a disease with an incubation period are just too much for you to handle in order for you to go help someone else.

I'm simply amazed at the ignorance of some of these healthcare workers, especially since it is ignorance in Africa that has caused this outbreak to spread so far and wide. You'd think they would know better. If this cunt in NJ comes down with Ebola, she should be charged with criminal negligence.

[Edited on October 28, 2014 at 8:03 PM. Reason : ]

10/28/2014 8:00:34 PM

You're cool with living in a tent with no running water or heat?

Shut the fuck up you fucking retard.

10/28/2014 8:16:06 PM

sup, troll?

10/28/2014 8:19:20 PM

You realize the isolation tent that the nurse was put in had no water or heat, and that the nurse just wanted to go home and get some sleep?

You are fucking dumb as shit.

10/28/2014 8:54:51 PM

call it "ebola camping"

itll be fun

10/28/2014 9:06:09 PM

dtownral is mad because burro used some logic in this thread.

Want to go help people? Fine, just make sure your heart is the only thing still bleeding after your 3 weeks is up.

Why couldn't they heat the tents? That seems a little ridiculous.

10/28/2014 10:11:52 PM

^ Because it was a half assed measure by Christie so he could posture in front of the cameras.

She didn't even have a toilet, it was a box with a hole and a plastic bag. They seriously put no thought into this "quarantine", those conditions were inhumane, she has a justification to sue. I'm sure no one here wants to give the government more power to hold people on a slum tent by force without repercussion.

I'd think Americans, and especially conservatives, would have learned that the extreme reaction to a threat is rarely a healthy reaction. It's why we're mired in Iraq (and the storm that unleashed), and it's what got us the patriot act.

It's not selfish, at all, for this worker to not want be stuck in a cold tent with no privacy or an actual toilet, when there was no logical, rational, scientific reason for this.

That's what this boils down to, there's no real reason for a non symptomatic person to be held against their will in those conditions, and even if they were sick, that's an unacceptable condition for anyone.

Why isn't it selfish for gun owners to oppose closing loopholes to help find criminals and reduce gun deaths, or for fat people not to have their sugary drinks and salty food so we can reduce deaths from the #1 killer in the U.S. (Heart disease), but is somehow selfish when a worker doing charity work in an impoverished country doesn't want to be held in slum conditions based on unfounded, over blown fears, from a science illiterate public?

If they are going to do a quarantine, do it right, in a reasonable way, based on the science, and with some actual forethought and preparation.

We have not had an outbreak in the U.S., We aren't even close to an outbreak, and the last thing we should be doing is discouraging sick people from coming forward for fear of being thrown in a cold tent with no toilet.

10/28/2014 11:50:30 PM

Quote :

"dtownral is mad because burro used some logic in this thread. Want to go help people? Fine, just make sure your heart is the only thing still bleeding after your 3 weeks is up."

what's logical about calling a nurse, (who is a legitimate hero) a cunt, for complaining about being forced to be quarantined in a tent without running water, heat, and a bucket to go to the bathroom in?

you are continually given actual logic on a very regular basis, yet you never answer to it and continue to be proudly ignorant. it's actually pretty sad.

10/29/2014 12:23:10 AM

Republicans are scared of everything.

[Edited on October 29, 2014 at 8:53 AM. Reason : V Military make scary boogeyman go bye bye]

10/29/2014 8:49:39 AM

rjrumfel or someone else, please explain to me how people in the military are heroes but these doctors and nurses are not. i need one of you to walk me through how your mind makes that distinction.

10/29/2014 8:50:14 AM

haha, burro raging in paragraphs that doctors and nurses that are helping trying to contain the outbreak are selfish "assholes" and "cunts". classic burro.

[Edited on October 29, 2014 at 9:23 AM. Reason : ]

10/29/2014 9:22:55 AM

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-quarantine-showdown-nurse-kaci-hickox-threatened-arrest-n236416

I was wondering when this would happen...

I wonder if they have a special quarantine jail cell, and quarantine procedures. And I wonder how legal this all actually is. Does she get her food paid for? What other compensations? What about contact with a delivery driver?

10/29/2014 10:37:18 AM

i think it's legal for states to set quarantines like this, at least that's what the columns I've read have said

i don't even think quarantining someone in their own home is a terrible idea, but I think measures need to be taken to make sure that jobs they have are safe (i.e. they are not going to get fired for missing work) and that assistance is given for food and other needs while in quarantine. (i understand that they are not showing symptoms, but a quarantine is prophylactic by design, it's for people who are not sick)

concurrent to any quarantine, the federal, state, and local governments need to be active and coordinated in messages that these people are heroes and should not be shunned. they should ask communities to come together to provide support for people quarantined.

10/29/2014 12:29:18 PM