CDC Boss Frieden, "That Is Not in the Cards."

By Jim Schutze Mon., Oct. 13 2014 at 10:40 AM

Thomas Frieden, CDC Director

Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, speaking on 7/31/2014:

"It is not a potential of Ebola spreading widely in the U.S. That is not in the cards."
"We have quarantine stations at all the major ports of entry. People cannot transmit Ebola to others unless they are sick, and Ebola makes you so sick that it's pretty obvious pretty quickly. A traveler will be flagged by the flight crew and if someone gets sick after arrival in the U.S. they will almost certainly seek medical care."

"Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population."

Frieden, on 9/30/2014:

"And I would comment, this is a tried and true protocol, this is what we do in public health and this is what we do in this country for a variety of infectious diseases and what we do at CDC globally in Ebola cases."
"Strong health care infection control that stops the spread of Ebola and strong core public health functions that trace contacts, track contacts, isolate them if they have any symptoms and stop the chain of transmission. We're stopping this in its tracks. Thank you very much".

Frieden, 10/7/2014:

"It's a virus that doesn't spread through the air, and that we do know how to control. We do know how to stop it. By isolating patients, doing contact tracing, and breaking the chains of transmission. Now, I can say one week in that there are real signs of progress. Not only in Dallas, but also around the world. I'll go through a few of them. In Dallas, there are 10 definite and 38 possible contacts being monitored. Each and every one of them is having their temperature monitored. As of today, none of them are sick and none of them have a fever. We'll continue to watch that very closely in the coming days and Dr. Lakey, Judge Shaken and their teams at the state and local level in Dallas are doing a terrific job dealing with what is really an unprecedented situation."

Frieden on 10/12/2014:

"At some point, there was a breach in protocol, and that breach in protocol resulted in this infection. The (Ebola treatment) protocols work. ... But we know that even a single lapse or breach can result in infection."
CDC circular to hospitals on 7/30/2014, Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations for Hospitalized Patients with Known or Suspected Ebola Virus Disease in U.S. Hospitals.

"In this guidance healthcare personnel (HCP) refers all persons, paid and unpaid, working in healthcare settings who have the potential for exposure to patients and/or to infectious materials, including body substances, contaminated medical supplies and equipment, contaminated environmental surfaces, or aerosols generated during certain medical procedures (emphasis added). HCP include, but are not limited to, physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, therapists, technicians, emergency medical service personnel, dental personnel, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, autopsy personnel, students and trainees, contractual personnel, home healthcare personnel, and persons not directly involved in patient care (e.g., clerical, dietary, house-keeping, laundry, security, maintenance, billing, chaplains, and volunteers) but potentially exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted to and from HCP and patients."

Houston Chronicle, 10/13/2014, in reference to Thomas Eric Duncan's second show-up at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, after the hospital had sent blood to the lab to test for Ebola but before results came back:

" ...records obtained by The Associated Press have indicated that staff did not don the hazmat suits until two days after Duncan arrived."

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Voot

Aren't soothing flacks like Thomas Frieden the most dangerous breach in protocol?

Catbird

Why hasn't President Obama directed his administration to shut down commercial travel into the US from the EBOLA HOT ZONE?

RTGolden1 topcommenter

It's nice to see the CDC finally admitting what i was saying over a week ago. We don't know enough about this thing to come to any informed conclusions. Meanwhile, we go on trying to round up everyone who might have crossed paths with known victims. First circle thinking. We know it's bullshit. They've been harping on it for decades: "You're sleeping with everyone your partner ever slept with....".

Still not worthy of full blown panic, but there is a world of difference between panic and burying one's head in the sand. We need to fall somewhere in the middle on this one, with a slight lean to the concerned side.

holmantx topcommenter

He blamed the nurse.

Poor leadership.

ColonelAngus

"We have quarantine stations at all the major ports of entry."

Except for that 2,000-mile-long major port of entry to our south.

"Ebola poses little risk to the U.S. general population."

Nobody can be this stupid.

ivyhall

Frieden is an overpaid govt appointed hack who is most adept at covering his butt. He should be fired before his mindless blathering gets more of the public and innocent underpaid health care workers in trouble. The CDC is a joke.

The NIH is not much better. Wasted billions, mostly on salaries for donkeys in appointed positions or for grants which are scientific "roads to no where". Where is a plan for public protection, Mr. Jenkins?

JeezeLouise

Why didn't they quarantine the contacts in the beginning? It was a manageable number of people & although inconvenient for them, what's 21 days vs. potentially infecting others? Surely there is someplace this could have been done. Where was Clay Jenkins offering to put up all those kids crossing the border? Must have been some place with some separate rooms, kitchen, etc. to accommodate people temporarily. They all could have stayed there in a decent facility until they were clear.

This self monitoring thing still opens up everyone around them to the virus the second that infection switch goes off. Now, that landlord & all of her neighbors are suffering. Having these people out & interacting with the public is asking for trouble because apparently they can be OK one minute & the next have a fever.

Don't get me started on the dog. I love animals, but I hope I would never be so selfish that I would put my dog above the safety of people. I'm no scientist, but from what I've read, no one knows for sure what happens when pets are infected with the virus. They can pass it to other animals, just not sure about humans. Why take the risk? How will they know when/if it becomes a carrier? How will they quarantine the dog & dispose of it's urine & feces that could carry the virus?

Michael in LH

The monitoring of contacts by the CDC appears to be bullshit. I read or heard on the news yesterday that the CDC monitoring was actually just self monitoring and the CDC was not checking the potentially infected in person. What a joke. Anyone surprised that the government is lying there asses off?

ivyhall

@holmantx No. It is a fairly typical CDC knee jerk reaction. Remember the fungal meningitis tainted steroid episode of two years ago? The CDC reaction was to make sure any US physician administering ESIs was tainted as a potential malpractice target by PI attorneys rather than to actually improve the corrupt Massachusetts Dept of Health inspection procedures of compounding pharmacies in that state. It took weeks to get the offender compounder under control.--by then the guy was "bankrupt" and patients only compensation came from suing Docs and hospitals--nice work CDC!

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@ColonelAngus

Except for that 2,000-mile-long major port of entry to our south.

The border is secure, DHS says so.

Never mind the tens of thousands of new arrivals this year, and the hundreds of people from ebola countries apprehended last year, the border is secure, stop believing your lying eyes.

wcvemail

@ColonelAngus

The gov't uses the empirical evidence of voting the same types into office repeatedly, conclusively proving that we -- collectively -- are idiots.

Also, contrails.