Military preps team for Ebola response in US
The Pentagon has been working to determine what assistance it could offer the civilian health care sector following a White House meeting last week during which President Barack Obama said he wanted a more aggressive response, according to two Defense officials. "In response to a request by the Department of Health and Human Services -- and as an added prudent measure to ensure our nation is ready to respond quickly, effectively, and safely in the event of additional Ebola cases in the United States -- (Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel) today ordered his Northern Command Commander, Gen. Chuck Jacoby, to prepare and train a 30-person expeditionary medical support team that could, if required, provide short-notice assistance to civilian medical professionals in the United States," Kirby said.
Jacoby is already working with the military to source and to form the joint team, Kirby said, and once formed, it will head to Fort Sam Houston in Texas for up to seven days of training in infection control and personal protective equipment. The training, provided by the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, will begin "within the next week or so," Kirby said.
The team will remain in "prepare-to-deploy" status for 30 days, he said. It will be able to respond anywhere in the U.S. if "deemed prudent by our public health professionals," he said.
Cruise passenger cleared
Sunday's news out of the Pentagon came as a cruise ship plowed through the waters of a Texas port with precious cargo on board -- the end of a small Ebola scare. A passenger had been loosely linked to the only patient to die from the disease in the United States, but health authorities cleared her after an odyssey at sea.
After voluntarily isolating herself in her cabin, she remained symptom-free, and her lab tests looked good, the Galveston County Health Authority said. She and a travel partner were allowed to disembark.
The drama goes back to the woman's work as a lab supervisor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, the center of a maelstrom of Ebola fears in the United States.
It's where Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan was misdiagnosed and later died, and where two nurses became the first people to contract Ebola in America.
Seventy-five health workers and 48 people in the community are under monitoring after coming into contact with Duncan. The monitoring period for the 48 community members ends at midnight Sunday night, said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is overseeing response efforts in Dallas.
Poster Comment:
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If this doesn't get you to WalMart for some Skippy & Ritz crackers, nothing will. Stock up and prepart to shelter in place. This shit is coming and so is the military.