Highland Park ISD Wants Parents to Know They Are Safe From Clay Jenkins and His Family

arecbarrwin

I assume you know that a sheriff's deputy that entered the apartment with Clay Jenkins is now exhibiting Ebola symptoms and being transported to Presbyterian Hospital right now.

http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/frisco-officials-say-patient-exhibiting-ebola-like-symptoms-claims-to-have-had-contact-with-thomas-eric-duncan.html/

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

Time to put up the barricades at the Towne Limit!

OxbowIncident

....but Dallas certainly is not. Maybe we would be better off in Highland Park. This "World Class" city has shown that it is not prepared to deal with "World Class" diseases.

whocareswhatithink

maybe we have actually found the vaccine to Ebola after all......botox.

tdkisok

This whole thing is geared towards the moms. Who, in Highland Park, are some pretty stupid Stepford wives.

bvckvs topcommenter

The GOOD NEWS is that most parents at HPISD are well-educated and aren't really worried. It's just a few crazies, like the ones who wanted to ban books last week, who this week took Schutze's advice... to panic.

ColonelAngus

Ebola got one look at Jenkins and hauled ass back to Africa.

everlastingphelps topcommenter

We'd imagine Judge Jenkins' daughter probably thinks her dad is the worst right about now.

Imagine how she'll feel when his grandstanding buys him a case of Ebola.

tb00

What snarky asshats your headline writers are. A truthful headline would read: "Clay Jenkins Wants Parents to Know They Are Safe From Clay Jenkins and His Family."

I'll leave others (like James 080) to comment on whether Judge Jenkins' claim is accurate.

James080

No one is safe from Clay Jenkins. I don't know anything about his family.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@Oxbowincident

Actually, Dallas is doing things right, it's the rest of the civilized world that's panicking.

durkamcdurk

@whocareswhatithink No, it is the xanax.

bvckvs topcommenter

@tdkisok

You might want to dial that back a little bit. Most HP moms I've met are well-educated, intelligent, self-actualized individuals.

Don't mistake the shrillness of the small cadre of bored, stupid ones as being representative of the community as a whole.

mavdog topcommenter

^ got to admit that's pretty funny.

mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

one person's "grandstanding" is another person's "fulfilling his duty".

MaxNoDifference

@everlastingphelps He's too skinny to need a case. A six pack will do the job nicely.

James080

@tb00

My comment has nothing to do with Ebola. It has to do with Clay Jenkins abdicating his responsibilities as Dallas County Judge to protect his party, his political allies and his indicted handler on the commissioner's court.

OxbowIncident

@TheRuddSki Really? The City of Dallas told all the exposed members in his family that they had to sit and marinate in their ebola apartment for 3-4 days even AFTER the rest of the world knew of this first case! As soon as Presby announced the diagnosis, there should have been a much quicker and efficient response by the city. It wasn't even until 10/6 that they carted off the fluid stained sheets and article to be incinerated. As Dallas tous its "World Class City" status they should be prepared for world class health issues.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@bvckvs Thank god everyone here knows you are a dumbass and we dont get lumped in with the stupid shit you say.

theslowpath

@bvckvs @tdkisok "Don't mistake the ______ of the small cadre of ______ ones as being representative of the community as a whole" is like a mad lib of really good life advice.

ColonelAngus

@mavdog Thanks Mav, glad to share a grin with you.

everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog @everlastingphelps Helping the family is his duty. Doing it while defying the CDC protocols on PPE is grandstanding.

Unless you think that doctors aren't doing their duty unless they stop wearing gloves.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@mavdog

Actually, Mav, that duty is actually someone else's. As we've seen, professional health care workers are well protected.

Jenkins should have had professionals transport.

tb00

@James080 I understand. I meant others would need to evaluate his claim that parents are safe from him in a more general and/or political sense, which I gather is what you meant too.

bvckvs topcommenter

@theslowpath @bvckvs @tdkisok

It only works when you fill in the blanks with the correct words.

For example, the small cadre of Tea Partiers DO represent the republican party as a whole - as evidenced by the fact that the Republican party keeps electing them to be their representatives.

mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

appreciate the acknowledgement that helping the family was a role of his posiiton in County government.

the family show no symptoms.CDC protocols do not apply unless there is evidence of infection.

mavdog topcommenter

@TheRuddSki

Jenkins should have had professionals transport

what, "professionals" such as a taxi or Uber?

The family show no symptoms. They do not require any aid/assistance from a healthcare worker, especially to travel from the apartment to a temporary residence.

everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog @everlastingphelps He was in the contaminated apartment frequently, and didn't wear gloves for any of it. The apartment is undoubtedly contaminated, and he flaunted it for perceived political gain.

TheRuddSki topcommenter

professionals" such as a taxi or Uber?

Medical transport such as an ambulance, with trained and properly attired medical personnel. They are only a phone call away.

The family show no symptoms.

Neither did patient zero when he boarded the plane.

They do not require any aid/assistance from a healthcare worker...

Their mobility has never been an issue, their exposure to a deadly contagious virus is.

mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

from what I've read, and I understand you take issue with this guidance, is the "apartment" itself is not contaminated. it is only the items Duncan came in physical contact with that could be contaminated. Merely entering the apartment shouldn't be an act that put him at risk.

If Jenkins did what he did for political gain, not sure if that will pay off.

I do see what he did to show a great deal of compassion, IMHO he did the right thing in helping the family.

I also believe he looked at the situation and felt he would not put himself at risk.

mavdog topcommenter

@TheRuddSki

The family showed no symptoms, they did not need "an ambulance" or "properly attired medical personnel"

Patient Zero (his las name is Duncan BTW) travelled to Brussels, to DC, and to Dallas, not showing any symptoms and not infecting anyone either.

Just like the family, not showing any symptoms, will not infect anyone, and do not need an ambulance or medical personnel.

anon-mouse

@mavdog You do know that you are going to get the massive UP bitch slap for making such a rational comment. The candidates for the Republican nomination made it clear during a debate that the poor man dying in an emergency room who doesn't have insurance should be left to die (applause applause). Yet to show an ounce of compassion for this sort of man is clearly for political gain. WWJD?

Lara

@mavdog Mr. Duncan's sweat, vomit, diarrhea, and saliva all contain virus, and there's a high probability some of it existed on surfaces in the apartment. It could have been spread further by foot traffic in the apartment or even by ineffectual attempts to clean up. The cameraman evacuated to Nebraska caught Ebola while cleaning a taxi in which an Ebola victim had died. The Spanish nurse caught it, despite protective gear, after changing one diaper and once removing a patient's linens.

Thus, until that apartment was decontaminated, Judge Jenkins had no business walking through it (and potentially spreading it to otherwise clean areas). Is it likely he spread Ebola? Nope. But I'm not willing to bet his daughter's (or my daughter's) life on it. It would have been much simpler to stay outside or suit up before entry.

everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog How would he know what Duncan did and did not touch on his way out? Duncan was having trouble walking, and would likely have braced himself often getting out the door to the ambulance.

It's that sort of thing. Jenkins is endangering himself, and endangering the public by not taking this disease seriously.

We can stop this now if people like him take it seriously. If we act like it's nothing, it will spread.

mavdog topcommenter

@Lara

Mr. Duncan's sweat, vomit, diarrhea, and saliva all contain virus, and there's a high probability some of it existed on surfaces in the apartment.

that is not accurate as the timeline of when Duncan was in the apartment, and when Jenkins entered, is long enough for any Ebola virus to die.

the camerman and the nurse were infected by contact with an individual who was contagious. In fact today it is reported the Spanish nurse did not follow protocol and infected herself with gloves used in treating the contagious patient. the family was and is not contagious.

Nobody is "betting" anyone's "life". the behavior of the virus is well known and predictable. to state that Jenkins risked his family, and that by extension others the family could come into contact with, shows how irrational your view is.

mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

I'm assuming this for sure, but if I were him I wouldn't touch anything. Walk in, walk out.

I've seen this phrase about Ebola: if it dries, it dies.

I disagree that he isn't taking the disease seriously. We should be very, very serious about the disease.

We do not need to panic, we do not need to act like some people have towards the residents of Five Points.

We do not need to act like the family is contagious when they are not.

everlastingphelps topcommenter

@mavdog @everlastingphelps The problem is, something in the virus has changed. We can see that in how many cases there are. It always burned itself out before it could spread too far, and now it is growing exponentially. The most likely reasons are:

It is communicable before symptoms show

It is far more communicable as an aerosol

It is far more hardy on surfaces

It is airborne (very unlikely)

Some combination of the above

I don't think Jenkins needed a moonsuit or even a facemask respirator, but I think that gloves were highly warranted, since any of the above would dictate that. We can treat the family with compassion and dignity without taking the kind of cowboy risks that Jenkins was notorious for at Baylor. We don't know if the family is contagious or not, because there is so much we don't know about Ebola.

When the mortality rate is 50%+ and gloves are pennies each, there is no reason to take that enormous downside risk.

mavdog topcommenter

@everlastingphelps

if your point is Jenkins should have worn gloves, not going to say that is an unfair position.

the Ebola virus is not new, nor is it unknown in its characteristics. there is no reason to jump to a conclusion that the virus has morphed in any of the ways you suggest. the virus has continued to act in the ways the epidemiologists expect and predict.