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Kurska

(5,739 posts)
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 10:55 PM Aug 2014

Mob Destroys Ebola Center In Liberia Two Days After It Opens

"A mob descended on the center at around 5:30 p.m., chanting, “No Ebola in West Point! No Ebola in West Point!” They stormed the front gate and pushed into the holding center. They stole the few gloves someone had donated this morning, and the chlorine sprayers used to disinfect the bodies of those who die here, all the while hollering that Ebola is a hoax.

They ransacked the protective suits, the goggles, the masks. They destroyed part of Tarplah’s car as he was fleeing the crowd.
Jemimah Kargbo, a health care worker at a clinic next door, said they took mattresses and bedding, utensils and plastic chairs.

“Everybody left with their own thing,” she said. “What are they carrying to their homes? They are carrying their deaths.”
She said the police showed up but the crowd intimidated them.

“The police were there but they couldn’t contain them. They started threatening the police, so the police just looked at them,” she said.
And then mob left with all of the patients.

“They said, ‘The president says you have Ebola, but you don’t have Ebola, you have malaria. Get up and go out!’” Kargbo said.
“What’s going to happen when they come to our clinic? In two to five days?” Kargbo asked, referencing the early period when newly infected patients begin to show their first symptoms. “We’re going to turn them around” and send them to a different hospital, she said.
Kargbo said the staff at the clinic have no protective gear. They were already afraid about treating possible Ebola patients, and the riot means more infections as escaped sick patients infect their families, and as looters sleep on mattresses where the Ebola-infected have died."

More in the article.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jinamoore/two-days-after-it-opens-mob-destroys-ebola-center-in-liberia#1ykcsjk

The government currently plans to quarantine the entire area. No one goes in and no one goes out.

Horrific.

Is there any containing this anymore? How? The mix of distrust in the medical system, a nearly broken medical system and social/health conditions that were critical before the outbreak is turning this into a tragedy.

60 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Mob Destroys Ebola Center In Liberia Two Days After It Opens (Original Post) Kurska Aug 2014 OP
"...all the while hollering that Ebola is a hoax." Adsos Letter Aug 2014 #1
Are the Koch brothers claiming Al Gore is behind it? tclambert Aug 2014 #11
Just like the climate change deniers. nt valerief Aug 2014 #21
Must be related to the US Rities! napi21 Aug 2014 #37
Is Faux Noise broadcasting live on the internet? Amonester Aug 2014 #41
Geez. Not even in a zombie movie would they come up with this reaction because Baitball Blogger Aug 2014 #2
No, they are doomed tavalon Aug 2014 #33
Is it possible they were deliberately riled up on misinformation for a purpose? AuntPatsy Aug 2014 #3
Given they are running around yelling ebola is a hoax, most certainly. Kurska Aug 2014 #4
Likely an African version of Rush Limbaugh helped it all. Katashi_itto Aug 2014 #5
More like their version of Alex Jones. Spitfire of ATJ Aug 2014 #12
My thought too... ReRe Aug 2014 #25
Sure, by religious leaders Warpy Aug 2014 #7
Your post says it all tavalon Aug 2014 #34
Boom. Winner. hifiguy Aug 2014 #58
Fox Liberia likely. nt valerief Aug 2014 #22
If you want a quick tour of some of the most clinically paranoid, reality dissasociated folks on the Warren DeMontague Aug 2014 #43
Well, soon enough they will pay the price. LisaL Aug 2014 #6
I wouldn't wish that disease on anyone... toddwv Aug 2014 #8
I am not wishing it on anyone. I am just stating a fact. LisaL Aug 2014 #9
I understand. toddwv Aug 2014 #10
Same here... My Pet Goat Aug 2014 #14
Because they have been convinced that these patients don't have Ebola--that it is all a tblue37 Aug 2014 #38
They haven't taken any precations. LisaL Aug 2014 #54
I fear that once the authorities cordon off the area in a quarantine, tblue37 Aug 2014 #59
Oh no. This is what happens when fear and ignorance combine. Avalux Aug 2014 #13
They are listening to *someone*, but unfortunately, whoever they are tblue37 Aug 2014 #39
Mobs by definition behave irrationally NT Ex Lurker Aug 2014 #15
Sadly, ive heard such sentiment iamthebandfanman Aug 2014 #16
what religion are these people JI7 Aug 2014 #17
Liberia? Lydia Leftcoast Aug 2014 #19
i mean specifically these ones who are destroying the ebola center and think it's a hoax JI7 Aug 2014 #20
No idea. Lydia Leftcoast Aug 2014 #23
Um, 85% Christian, 12% Muslim, traditional indiginous religions .5%. Bluenorthwest Aug 2014 #48
Magic man in sky. nt valerief Aug 2014 #24
Yep, I guess just pray the ebola away. So often people bring horrific events onto themselves ... RKP5637 Aug 2014 #27
We built that :( & They never recovered from the civil wars. Sunlei Aug 2014 #18
Karma is going to be especially harsh with these people. stevenleser Aug 2014 #26
People that fucking stupid hifiguy Aug 2014 #28
They are not stupid. They are uneducated, ignorant and misinformed. passiveporcupine Aug 2014 #36
Unfortunately, willful ignorance is Unknown Beatle Aug 2014 #29
"Even when people try to educate ignorance, the ignorant get pissed." Truer words were never spoken. WinkyDink Aug 2014 #47
Thanks for this news, Kurska ReRe Aug 2014 #30
Welp for shit sakes. This isn't good. lonestarnot Aug 2014 #31
Now, that's some fucking bad news tavalon Aug 2014 #32
plus 1000 Liberal_in_LA Aug 2014 #53
Remember when AIDS/HIV started? Well it is still taking lives & millions have been spent to stop it. littlemissmartypants Aug 2014 #35
There are fundamental differences between this and HIV, though. Warren DeMontague Aug 2014 #44
Indeed. littlemissmartypants Aug 2014 #45
I highly recommend to both of you, and to anyone on DU who thinks of themselves as an activist of Bluenorthwest Aug 2014 #49
Thank you. nt littlemissmartypants Aug 2014 #57
Not exactly through ignorant destruction of facilities. WinkyDink Aug 2014 #51
Remember littlemissmartypants Aug 2014 #56
It's terribly unfortunate defacto7 Aug 2014 #40
grrrrrrreat. Warren DeMontague Aug 2014 #42
You forgot one item in your list of problems... JNelson6563 Aug 2014 #46
OMG, this story epitomizes that phrase "you can't fix stupid!" MoonRiver Aug 2014 #50
It is like the time they burned the Springfield Observatory to the ground. AngryAmish Aug 2014 #52
It's miracle some in the US haven't stormed the hospital where the infected doctor is being treated kelliekat44 Aug 2014 #55
17 of the escapees had tested positive for ebola magical thyme Aug 2014 #60

napi21

(45,806 posts)
37. Must be related to the US Rities!
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:56 AM
Aug 2014

They don't blieve anything our govt tells them, and apparently some of the people there are following their lead.

Baitball Blogger

(46,684 posts)
2. Geez. Not even in a zombie movie would they come up with this reaction because
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:08 PM
Aug 2014

it's too ridiculous to believe.

We.Are.Doomed.

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
33. No, they are doomed
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:25 AM
Aug 2014

but that sucks anyway. It's highly unlikely to move off of the continent at this point - people are too scared to let someone with the sniffles on an international flight. But this is quickly turning into something horrific locally. Awful.

Kurska

(5,739 posts)
4. Given they are running around yelling ebola is a hoax, most certainly.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:14 PM
Aug 2014

Probably domestically produced though.

Warpy

(111,141 posts)
7. Sure, by religious leaders
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:23 PM
Aug 2014

who see a path to money and power if they're the only game in town and prayer is what they're selling to people as a way to be saved by gawd rather than be treated by medicine.

Putting whole regions under quarantine is all they can possibly try to do, although people will tend to go cross country to run away from the virus rather than stick to the roads.

At least that will slow them down enough that the infected ones will die on the way, as heartless as that sounds, it's the only way to stop contagion from spreading as quickly as it has.

The behavior of the human race during historical plagues is the key to behavior now and it's not pretty. Ebola-Zaire shows up in your area, you pretty much have to shut down and stay on house arrest. When people must go out daily for food because there is no refrigeration and only communal water, this becomes unrealistic. Eliminating travel beyond hard hit regions is the only way to stop this thing and even then, it is likely to keep popping up here and there for some time.

Religious people are not helping. One thing the Black Death in Europe did was loosen the Vatican's stranglehold enough for the Reformation to happen, mostly because religion had been utterly ineffective for the sick and priests had run from praying over them.

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
34. Your post says it all
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:31 AM
Aug 2014

We know how to contain this but it's unreasonable,unconscionable. We could probably airlift emergency supplies to quarantined areas but if you are in that area, you have a very strong likelihood of getting Ebola and the death rate is the usual 80-90 percent.

The "cure" for Ebola, since it is so fast acting is to get it away from populous areas through quarantine and as awful as it sounds, death watches. Burn out the virus. It sounds so reasonable until you realize what that really means.

No one paid much attention when it was little villages being decimated and that's been going on a long time (decades at least). Nothing has changed about Ebola except it got lucky and found a populated area. Now, it's big news. But the cure is still the same as before.
Horrific, but it's all we have.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
58. Boom. Winner.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 02:44 PM
Aug 2014

You not not only hit the nail on the head, you smacked it all the way through the 2 x 4.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
43. If you want a quick tour of some of the most clinically paranoid, reality dissasociated folks on the
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 04:28 AM
Aug 2014

internet (and that's saying something)

google "ebola hoax"

...

LisaL

(44,972 posts)
6. Well, soon enough they will pay the price.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:19 PM
Aug 2014

Considering they took belongings of ebola patients, it will be quick.

toddwv

(2,830 posts)
8. I wouldn't wish that disease on anyone...
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:35 PM
Aug 2014

their children are likely to suffer from their actions as well.

These people are highly religious, superstitious, scared, and generally ignorant (thanks to a school system that is seriously lacking). They are also extremely distrusting of the west, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes "just because."

It's a difficult and deadly situation that doesn't have an easy answer and unfortunately many many people will experience horrific deaths as a result of the poor public infrastructure that is prolific in that part of the world.

LisaL

(44,972 posts)
9. I am not wishing it on anyone. I am just stating a fact.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:35 PM
Aug 2014

A large number of them will most likely get infected if they are going to use belongings of Ebola patients. I saw other stories where people generally were avoiding houses and bodies of Ebola patients, so I am not sure why this group wouldn't do the same.

toddwv

(2,830 posts)
10. I understand.
Sat Aug 16, 2014, 11:42 PM
Aug 2014

Sorry if my post sounded a bit accusatory. I just truly feel for these people, even if some of them are digging their own graves. Many if not most can barely sustain themselves without something like ebola tossed into the mix.

My Pet Goat

(413 posts)
14. Same here...
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:20 AM
Aug 2014

My first reaction looking at these pictures was shock and sadness. These pictures clearly show close-knit families trying to look out for each other.

tblue37

(65,227 posts)
38. Because they have been convinced that these patients don't have Ebola--that it is all a
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:58 AM
Aug 2014

hoax, so why take such precautions?

LisaL

(44,972 posts)
54. They haven't taken any precations.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 10:55 AM
Aug 2014

Which is why a number of them is going to get Ebola and die.

tblue37

(65,227 posts)
59. I fear that once the authorities cordon off the area in a quarantine,
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 07:06 PM
Aug 2014

that densely packed population of about 20,000 people will be almost entirely doomed. We recoil now to think that Ebola has killed over 1,000 people. How will we react when the number reaches 20,000?

Avalux

(35,015 posts)
13. Oh no. This is what happens when fear and ignorance combine.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:14 AM
Aug 2014

The people have no idea...and they're terrified....not listening to anyone.

tblue37

(65,227 posts)
39. They are listening to *someone*, but unfortunately, whoever they are
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:59 AM
Aug 2014

listening to is selling them a pile of bull caca.

iamthebandfanman

(8,127 posts)
16. Sadly, ive heard such sentiment
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:28 AM
Aug 2014

with some Americans.. and yes, about the very subject of ebola.

peoples egos are so massive , some will never 'believe' science. how dare anyone prove them wrong.. as Stephen Colbert said at the white house press dinner .. (and im paraphrasing) your gut has more nerve endings in it than anywhere else in your body.. but don't go lookin for that in a book

Lydia Leftcoast

(48,217 posts)
23. No idea.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:42 AM
Aug 2014

All I know is that I've met Liberians (there are a lot in the Twin Cities, and they tend to work in nursing homes) who are any one of the three.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
48. Um, 85% Christian, 12% Muslim, traditional indiginous religions .5%.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 08:39 AM
Aug 2014

So the vast ruling majority are Christians, the majority of those are Protestants...

RKP5637

(67,086 posts)
27. Yep, I guess just pray the ebola away. So often people bring horrific events onto themselves ...
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:58 AM
Aug 2014

Religion, the choice of the ignorant.

 

stevenleser

(32,886 posts)
26. Karma is going to be especially harsh with these people.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:52 AM
Aug 2014

Ignorance and superstition can kill.

And before anyone asks/accuses, no, I don't wish an Ebola death on them for their actions. What I wish is of no consequence anyway. Their own ignorance has sealed their fates.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
28. People that fucking stupid
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 12:59 AM
Aug 2014

deserve exactly what they will get. The problem is that the innocent will suffer as well.

passiveporcupine

(8,175 posts)
36. They are not stupid. They are uneducated, ignorant and misinformed.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:56 AM
Aug 2014
At the same time, the Presidential Task Force on Ebola is considering quarantining the densely populated community of West Point in Monrovia and Dolo Town in Margibi County. West Point is a slum populated community with an estimated population of over 20,000 inhabitants, while in Dolo Town report says at least 25 persons have died due to strange circumstances.


Other members of the Task Force are calling for the imposition of curfew to stop the movement of individuals in various communities. They also want Ebola message being played on radios to be changed as the right messages are not being sent out to the public.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201408151535.html

They are a slum town, which most likely means, mostly uneducated.

No one deserves to die for being ignorant and fearful.

Unknown Beatle

(2,672 posts)
29. Unfortunately, willful ignorance is
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:06 AM
Aug 2014

entrenched in people worldwide. Here in the US, people go against their own self-interest when they vote republican. And when things start going bad because of republican policies, they blame democrats.

Even when people try to educate ignorance, the ignorant get pissed.

I really feel for the people of Monrovia as obviously someone brainwashed them onto believing that there was no Ebola. I really hope the children are spared from this horrific disease.

 

WinkyDink

(51,311 posts)
47. "Even when people try to educate ignorance, the ignorant get pissed." Truer words were never spoken.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 07:53 AM
Aug 2014

It is why too many kids hate teachers.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
30. Thanks for this news, Kurska
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:17 AM
Aug 2014

Ignorance kills. This is a true living nightmare, or day-of-the-living-dead. Does this mean the workers will have to stay there and die too? If so, then the workers should quarantine themselves up as best they can and start praying.

tavalon

(27,985 posts)
32. Now, that's some fucking bad news
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:24 AM
Aug 2014

This has been containable, could still be containable but if these are the circumstances, it's not so likely to be containable.

I'm not particularly worried about it making it here. I want as few Africans as possible to die. This is not the way to make that happen.

Shit.

littlemissmartypants

(22,572 posts)
35. Remember when AIDS/HIV started? Well it is still taking lives & millions have been spent to stop it.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 01:41 AM
Aug 2014

In case you are too young to remember you can watch this...

http://vimeo.com/m/90722188

Or here...
http://m.



Love, Peace and Shelter.
~ Lmsp

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)
44. There are fundamental differences between this and HIV, though.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 04:31 AM
Aug 2014

For one, people can and could walk around with HIV for years, passing it on, before actually getting sick.

As it stands, now, anyone who catches ebola is either going to die quickly, or get better. While it may be possible to transmit the virus for some time after recovery, the sheer lethality of the fucker actually makes it spreading geographically a more difficult proposition.

Fortunately, for us.

Still, the game right now is to contain it. This sort of shit does NOT help, of course.

littlemissmartypants

(22,572 posts)
45. Indeed.
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 04:42 AM
Aug 2014

But in the very beginning of the crisis no one knew that and panic with pandemonium was the order of the day. That's why I brought it up. Your point is valuable and valid. Thank you.
~ Lmsp

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
49. I highly recommend to both of you, and to anyone on DU who thinks of themselves as an activist of
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 08:49 AM
Aug 2014

any sort or who has an interest in the early days of the AIDS crisis, to watch the HBO film version of Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart'. It is very excellent, brutally truthful and this version is acted beautifully. The original play ran during the time it portrays, I call this the play that probably saved my life.
It's going to win a truck load of Emmy Awards. Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons, Julia Roberts, Alfred Molina,Joe Mantello and Matt Bomer all have acting nominations for this film. They each deserve the nomination.
It is the best film about political activism in the US in many years.
http://www.hbo.com/movies/the-normal-heart#/

defacto7

(13,485 posts)
40. It's terribly unfortunate
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 02:10 AM
Aug 2014

but their actions may begin to change the tide among many in Liberia and surrounding areas when the realization that the outcome of such actions is death. It's inevitable that there will be many killed by this action but it may be the only thing that will teach the tribal communities and the superstitious that Ebola is real and utterly ruthless. It's sad that this is the only way many will be able to understand.

JNelson6563

(28,151 posts)
46. You forgot one item in your list of problems...
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 06:59 AM
Aug 2014

teh stupid.

I guess we can expect to hear stories very soon of many deaths, many unnecessary deaths.

Hello 14th century!

Julie

 

kelliekat44

(7,759 posts)
55. It's miracle some in the US haven't stormed the hospital where the infected doctor is being treated
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 10:58 AM
Aug 2014

Panic, fear, and stupidity...a quick way to spread a deadly disease. People like Rep King help feed the crazies.

 

magical thyme

(14,881 posts)
60. 17 of the escapees had tested positive for ebola
Sun Aug 17, 2014, 10:09 PM
Aug 2014

and 3 who left with relatives the night before also tested positive.

So they will find out soon enough that there is an ebola outbreak and that they're going next.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/ebola-outbreak-fears-after-monrovia-clinic-is-raided-by-armed-gang/story-fneuz9ev-1227027524589

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