Should Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director Tom Frieden Be Fired?

[erpowers]

Frieden recently admitted he was slow to send a rapid response team to Texas Presbyterian Hospital, where Thomas Eric Duncan was being treated. It seems to me that the moment Tom Frieden learned someone with Ebola was being treated in the United States he should have sent a team to the hospital. I think it was just 100% wrong for him not to immediately send a team to Texas to supervise the effort to deal with Duncan. There needed to be people at that hospital who could have made sure everything was done right.

So, what do others at DU think about this issue? Do you want Tom Frieden fired, or do you want him to be given a second chance?

[TwilightGardener]

1. I think he should go. He had WAYYYY too much faith in regular hospitals' ability to

deal with this problem. He's apparently never worked with regular doctors, nurses, and aides in a community hospital medical-surgical setting, or he would have known how unprepared the facilities are to handle a scourge like this. Maybe he thought they were basically all like Emory or Nebraska Medical Center--and even those places may have fumbled a walk-in patient from the ER.

[KittyWampus]

11. WTF? So the head of the CDC should do what exactly? Inspect every single hospital in the USA?

Personally stand around to observe the each and every staff member run through a dry-run?

Because that is NOT the CDC's job.

[TwilightGardener]

18. No, he should have sent an all-hands-on-deck response team to oversee

the infection-control aspect of Duncan's care--literally in the room, watching the nurses and aides and respiratory therapists and cleaning staff. Also, the quarantine response was just...bad. Who can forget a couple guys in regular clothes power-washing vomit off the sidewalks four days after Duncan was admitted?

[Historic NY]

22. Exactly... +1

[Atman]

89. Then why did we know all about it in Connecticut?

My wife doesn't even work in general practice. She's a specialist, highly unlikely to encounter an Ebola patient. Yet, somehow, states like Connecticut were sent the protocols and acted upon them. Texas, not so curiously, is a red state which hates Obama and hates the Federal government telling them what to do. But from Nebraska to Georgia to Maine to Connecticut and beyond, people have received and acted upon the CDC updates. Including my wife, who doesn't even work in an ER or general medicine practice.

So clearly, it is all Obama's fault. Not the idiots in Texas, who flew, who treated Ebola patients without wearing proper protective clothing. Yup. Obama. Damn that Obama.

[1StrongBlackMan]

56. Again ...

to take comments here seriously, one must be suspend all real life experience, in favor of hindsight. And a good measure of FEAR, helps.

[magical thyme]

117. +1B

And even those places ended up buried in hazardous waste that they couldn't transport. Emory had to send staff to Home Depot to pick up large outdoor trash containers to store their waste on-site while figuring out how to deal with it.

You'd think that something from that experience would have been passed on to Dallas so they wouldn't end up with it stacked to the ceiling.

He was too quick to assume "breach of protocol" prior to any investigation or even considering that maybe protocol is inadequate. Apologies after the fact aren't good enough, imo. He was too quick into defensiveness.

Since the CDC authorized the 2nd patient's commercial air travel with a temperature, even while he's saying they were told no commercial travel, and the hospital is saying they weren't told anything about travel, I'd say communication is not exactly his strong point. Finger pointing all around.

I hope they get Pham to Emory or Nebraska too. She's not safe at Dallas; they simply aren't equipped to deal with it.

The sooner they get them both into facilities with appropriate equipment, training and staff, the better for the patients and anybody else they may contact.

[mcar]

2. No

The hospital administrators should be fired.

[still_one]

4. +++++++

[hedgehog]

15. +1

[Crunchy Frog]

46. The one doesn't rule out the other.

They are not mutually exclusive.

[LisaL]

3. Duncan should have been removed from that hospital ASAP and send into one of the 4 hospitals

with biosafety level 4 containment units.
But CDC claimed the US hospitals are ready for Ebola.
Which they clearly aren't.
Biosafety 4 level hospitals follow much more stringent guidelines than what CDC claims is adequate.
I don't understand what CDC was thinking here.

[KittyWampus]

10. You repeatedly spout the same crap over and over. It isn't the CDC's fault that HOSPITALS

failed to do what is necessary.

I have noticed you are one of a small handful of DU'ers who seems very intent on blaming the CDC.

I have yet to notice you putting any blame on the Republican politicians who cut budgets and Hospital Admins for cutting corners.

WHY IS THAT LISAL?

[LisaL]

16. Whose fault is that Ebola patient flew from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday?

Patient that was supposed to have been monitored, and that CDC knew was at risk for developing Ebola?

[Jim Beard]

75. Whose fault?

The constitution!

[sketchy]

5. The hospital administrators and the Republican CDC budget-cutting Congress should be fired

[annabanana]

48. What YOU said! ^^^^^. . . . n/t

[kestrel91316]

6. No. But every hospital administrator in the country who has dropped the ball and failed to get their

hospital prepared SHOULD. They've only had FORTY YEARS to do their homework and keep up on it, and ten months to wake up and smell the coffee.

I strongly suspect that the hospital assured Frieden and CDC that they knew exactly what they were doing and were fully prepared. IOW, they LIED. They need to go to jail.

[Marrah_G]

7. No

That would be a stupid move.

[KittyWampus]

8. FFS, the CDC is in place to help with information, logistics, organization.

Why should the CDC be fire because of YOUR ignorance?

The problem is the budget cuts.

Blame the freaking budget cutting Republican politicians and Hospital management for cutting corners.

[erpowers]

64. Frieden Could Have Sent A Team Sooner

Even Frieden himself said he waited too late to send a rapid response team. Budget cuts did not prevent him from sending a team to Texas. It seems the reality is that the hospital was not prepared to handle an Ebola case. It was not really a case of cutting corners. After Duncan showed up at the hospital the administrators purchased the materials they needed to handle an Ebola case. The proper gear has been ordered, but has not arrived in Dallas. I assume the administrators did not expect to have to deal with an Ebola case.

However, Frieden could have sent a team that had the proper equipment to Texas to deal with the case. Maybe Frieden called the hospital to ask if they felt they could handle the case, but if he did not call the hospital he should have called. He could have talked to the hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses to see if they had everything they needed. He could have made a short visit to the hospital to see how the hospital was handling the case.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

9. Yes. Immediately and concurrent with the firing of the hospital administrator.

It would be a good way to let the American public know that we are now serious about combatting Ebola. I don't really care whether this is seen as fair or not. A couple of people losing their jobs is utterly insignificant compared to what Ebola could do in this country. I don't advocate letting them resign to spend more time with their families. I do advicate their immediate and public terminations from their positions.

[LisaL]

12. Second Ebola patient flew from Cleveland to Dallas the day before she showed up in the hospital.

Why were these people flying?
CDC said more of them are quite possibly infected.
What kind of monitoring is CDC doing here?

[alarimer]

19. People who work with sick patients still have civil rights.

Or are you suggesting that monitoring should include house arrest and loss of mobility?

In that case, why would ANYONE ever help one of these patients, if it meant surrendering all liberty.

Bring back the pest houses.

[LisaL]

20. No, it's fine and dandy to travel all over the country while infected with Ebola.

WTF?

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. she wasnt considered one that day

[LisaL]

34. After first nurse was diagnosed, CDC said all of those who cared for Mr. Duncan

could be infected. I heard it with my own two ears.
If CDC didn't consider that before hand, then they clearly don't know what they were doing.

[VanillaRhapsody]

37. so how many do you want in these Ebola

Internment Camps.....now we dont even wait till they get sick first before putting them in the sanitoriums at the first suspicion

[LisaL]

40. Per CDC director, this woman wasn't supposed to have been traveling on commercial airline.

Yet, there she was.
Traveling.

[VanillaRhapsody]

92. SHE wasnt quaratined.....and that is exactly

What we called quarantine back in the day...Sanitoriums..

[840high]

39. I heard it, too.

[morningfog]

59. She may have been infected, but she was not infectious.

[VanillaRhapsody]

94. SHE wasnt quaratined....she was being observed..

[VanillaRhapsody]

104. apparently that is NOT the case....

It seems she contacted CDC....

[VanillaRhapsody]

106. Of course you don't....then you wouldn't have anything to be outraged about!

[VanillaRhapsody]

108. That may well be so....and I keep saying over and over....we have to take into account...

we are dealing with humans here...not all of them are born with common sense.

[LisaL]

67. Which you can not possibly know.

[VanillaRhapsody]

95. yes qe DO know....you are not contagious until

You run infected....which is a fever....she was quarantined within 90 minutes of detecting a fever..

[Fumesucker]

35. Could you afford to spend three weeks with no income?

Something like 33% of Americans are only one paycheck away from homelessness.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/10/one-third-of-americans-one-paycheck-away-from-homelessness.html

[LisaL]

43. It's better to spread Ebola all over the country, I suppose.

She WAS NOT supposed to have been traveling on commercial airline.
Yet there she was.

[Jim Beard]

77. By what law is that.

She was not under arrest. She had no symptoms. Keep the idiotic crap up and people mwill keep their moths shut and then we will be in REAL trouble.

[LisaL]

86. Per CDC, this woman shouldn't have been flying.

Yet she flew to Cleveland and back.
When she flew back, she already had a fever.

[AngryAmish]

99. The Executive in her city, county, state and nationally all have inherent police power for quarantin

In public health emergencies the Executive always retains that power. I am not going to burrow into Texas law, but police power is an enumerated power is delegated to the states by the 10th Amendment. President has it under General Welfare.

[840high]

44. Can you afford to die and or spread disease?

[Fumesucker]

61. I'm trying to describe reality as lot of Americans experience it

Plenty of us simply cannot afford to lose three weeks of income, then those people will be homeless which can be a death sentence itself.

Interesting that you didn't suggest people get paid for being in quarantine.

[Warren DeMontague]

118. Then maybe we should consider turning efforts to keep ebola OUT in the first place, up to "11"

even, heaven forfend, restricting visa-holders from the 3 main affected countries from coming into the US, until this is under control.

....since all this crap about what a piece of cake it would be to handle it in this country, is obviously feel-good bullshit.

[Fumesucker]

57. What makes you think they would be paid?

I can't see any American CEO agreeing to pay someone to sit on their ass for three weeks.

One of the more interesting things I've learned from this is that nurses are routinely forced to work while sick with other infectious diseases such as a cold or flu.

Pretty much like a lot of other Americans.

[Fumesucker]

69. Nurses are threatened with termination if they don't come to work when sick

Not all of them of course but a substantial portion of them, usually in places like Texas.

Most of us don't want to work sick with something like the flu but financial pressures force us to do so.

[840high]

70. ....

[AngryAmish]

98. Silly. Quarantines do not violate any civil right that I know of.

She could bring a habeus corpus writ if she thought it unjust.

[DustyJoe]

80. surprised

Personally i'm surprised the CDC head wasn't fired after he stated there needed to be travel restrictions right after the president made his 'safe on a bus' statement. I figured he was toast then.

[Johonny]

13. I think I can wait until we know how we did...

I mean he's spent the past ~ month responding to the ongoing crisis. Why would you fire him and possibly lose all the lessons learned now. If post evaluation to the response congress and the administration find errors that warrant removal then by all means remove him then. But seriously every Monday morning we fire half the coaches in the NFL these days. It is the same way in our politics. We are the reactionary panicked people. Most good decisions and processes take time to formulate. There is a time and place for sackings but I think I'd wait until we have this under control. So far the early predictions that there would be more cases but they had the procedures to keep it under control appears to be iffy... there will be investigations.

[NuclearDem]

14. Because what we need right now is not only the Surgeon General post vacant

but the CDC leaderless as well.

[jen63]

83. Exactly what I was thinkin'.

We need the Surgeon General's spot open AND the CDC in the middle of regime change when we could be having an emergent epidemic happening. Knee jerk crap! Gawd.

[Avalux]

17. NO. Holy shit people this is not a blame game!

Why wouldn't Frieden think that the hospital could handle it? They have the necessary information and procedures issued by the CDC to prevent infection. Maybe in hindsight he should have sent a team, but there's no telling if they would have even been allowed to come in and call all the shots at Texas Presbyterian.

We need to move past this failure (however it happened), and first, come to an understanding that public health must be a priority. That means that all facilities with the potential to treat patients with a highly dangerous infectious disease MUST have the proper procedures, equipment, and trained staff to do so.

Getting rid of Frieden won't do that. I'm not sure what will...

[kiranon]

23. Agree. There is no perfect procedure. There is no guarantee that

Ebola would not come to the US no matter how much anyone tried to "close the borders" - which is not possible anyway. Unless locked in, there is no way someone for whatever reason won't slip out of quarantine. Those locked in with them may not follow the protocol because people make mistakes or aren't all as careful as they needed to be. If I have learned anything in life, it is that mistakes happen and avoiding disaster isn't always possible - there are too many variables in the equation of life. Blame is never the answer - taking immediate action to fix the situation and move on is.

[TwilightGardener]

25. When bedside nurses say, as a group, "we are not prepared for this", someone best

take them seriously. They are on the front lines of care, they're not biologists sitting in Atlanta working in labs.

[Avalux]

81. They didn't speak up until it was in their back yard.

That's a whole lot different than alerting about a potential problem BEFORE a crisis happens. Frieden isn't responsible.

[mainer]

21. And replace him with whom? Someone new to the crisis?

There are a limited number of infectious disease doctors with the credentials that Frieden has. Once you've fired the top dozen or so, you're left with "Heckuva job Brownies" with neither the experience nor the training.

[onyourleft]

24. He absolutely...

...should not be fired.

[Iggo]

26. Yes, because he keeps giving everyone ebola.

[Fumesucker]

36. Those nurses weren't "allowed" to care for other patients

I guarantee they were forced to do so or be fired.

[TorchTheWitch]

29. I want to see his ass in a sling

Fired isn't anywhere good enough. The CDC is THE US authority on infection control, preparedness, protocols, etc. yet there's no question the CDC had it's head in their ass. They treated a biosafety level 4 infected patient with protocols for about a level 2.

Protective clothing only called for mask or face shield with no total head covering nor foot coverings nor disinfection of protective clothing before removing it. There was no supervision of workers that were untrained, and inexpert in utilizing the protective clothing to check for tears, gaps, etc., to make sure they were fully covered. There was no instruction to not perform high risk procedures on an end of life patient such as dialysis or ventilator. There was no instruction to use a minimum of caregivers and that those caregivers should not be also giving care to other patients. There was no instruction of the proper handling and destruction of waste materials or the handling of infectious samples from the patient nor the physical protection of those who handled the samples. They did not monitor and supervise the treatment and allowed the hospital to set up a makeshift Ebola ward out of the ICU that wasn't and couldn't be contained, there was no thought to whether or not the ICU had negative airflow or the use of suction that went into a standard receptacle, etc. There was no instruction for disinfecting the floor/wall areas where caregivers walked nor the disinfection of the bottoms of their shoes.

They claimed that any hospital could safely care for an Ebola patient, assured this hospital it could, and relied far too heavily on the inadequate protective clothing without disinfection as if it were an Ebola brick wall and so much so that despite these caregivers being the most exposed of anyone else since Mr. Duncan fell ill they didn't bother to quarantine or monitor their health.

Yet every single American infected with Ebola was flown to one of the nation's four hospitals equipped, prepared and staffed to handle a biosafety level 4 infected patient. Why in heaven's name did they not also do the same with Mr. Duncan? Why did they ignore complaints from experts in biosafety level 4 care and handling telling them they were screwing it up? Why else than to use Mr. Duncan, the Dallas hospital and all its staff as well as visitors and other patients as human guinea pigs as an experiment either in the hope to prove that any hospital could care successfully for a biosafety level 4 infected patient or to prove that our hospitals are woefully unprepared? Just what the hell was the CDC's point for so enormously fucking it up when THEY are supposed to be the nation's experts and gambled with so many peoples' lives?

Oh yes, the hospital enormously screwed up, but they did it having no expertise of their own and under the direction of and with the assurances of the CDC - THE nation's expert in infectious disease, preparedness and protocols.

[TorchTheWitch]

110. no one is talking about that - it's his treatment we're talking about

Yep, the hospital fucked up in sending him home. And that should have been a HUGE clue that they were not at all prepared. True, Mr. Duncan could have been more forthcoming and told them that he suspected he had Ebola and that he had been in direct contact with someone who had it rather than only saying he was form Liberia or West Africa. Obviously those places didn't ring any bells for anyone in the ER to clue them in that he might have Ebola. That's not what's at issue here.

Once they admitted him they knew what he likely had. We're talking about their ability to care for him properly while protecting the staff, hospital patients and visitors etc. And it was the CDC that assured them that they could and that it was no problem while paying no attention to what the hell was going on there so they could be told, no, you can't do dialysis or ventilate an Ebola patient, no, you can't put samples through the tube system, no, you can't have so many people taking care of him with their also taking care of other patients, no you can't have staff suiting up their own selves without supervision or have them take off their PPE without disinfecting it first, etc., etc., etc. That's the CDC's JOB. THEY are the ones hospitals are to go to for direction, protocols and HELP to make sure that what's being done every step of the way is done correctly.

The very fact that Frieden believed that Mr. Duncan could be handled just fine in a regular hospital with a biosafety level 4 virus and level 2 protocols is ludicrous. It's willful negligence. The CDC KNOWS that Ebola is a biosafety level 4 virus, so why on earth did they not have Mr. Duncan sent to one of the 4 hospitals that were designed to handle it just like they did all the AMERICAN patients that were infected and were sent to those hospitals?

We have these hospitals for a REASON - because regular hospitals are not set up with the appropriate experienced staff in infrastructure to handle a biosafety level 4 infected patient just like all hospitals don't have a special burn unit or special trauma unit. Our health care system is already set up such that certain people with certain severe illnesses/injuries need to receive care at certain hospitals set up to be able to handle their certain issue even if that means they need to be flown to another city or another state.

For example, none of the hospitals here in the suburbs have a burn unit. Years ago someone had an accident where their car ended up catching on fire and they had severe burns. The accident happened practically in the parking lot of one of our area hospitals, but it wasn't equipped to handle someone with such severe burns on so much of his body. The EMT's were well aware of that and medivaced him to one of the city hospitals that has an excellent burn unit. The chopper came down right in the middle of the street. The fire department cut open his car to get him out, and the EMT's whisked him into the chopper. It happened right outside my apartment building, but I wasn't home at the time and had to read all about it in the papers the next few days. Big full page spreads on the front page (this was before internet). Someone even got a good photo of the chopper just touching down in the street when it arrived with cop cars everywhere blocking off the whole street with lights whirling and flares burning. Must have been something to see - our first responders doing an excellent job of trying to save someone's life. Never found out what happened to the victim after that - nobody ever followed up to see if he lived or died or what.

And it makes sense to do it that way. Every hospital couldn't afford to have a special burn unit, a special trauma center, a special children's unit or a special biosafety level 4 unit because they don't all need them for the areas they cover. Most of the time those special units would be empty with special staff twiddling their thumbs having no patient to service and increase their experience.

So far the four biosafety level 4 hospitals the US with a total of 19 beds between them have been plenty to serve the needs of patients requiring that level of care throughout the country since this country just doesn't get much in the way of patients with that sort of infection that needs that level of care. We just don't have outbreaks of Ebola, Marburg, Lassa fever and or other hemorrhagic fevers or the few certain encephalitis infections that are the only ones on the list of biosafety level 4 - it's a short list. Most of the time those beds are probably empty or we fly in people from other countries needing that level of care who don't have that sort of care level. Good practice for the staff anyway, and why not help someone in need from another country that doesn't have the means to care for them. It just doesn't make sense for all of our country's hospitals to have ana scant number of patients who need it while most of the time those units would be empty.

Our medical system is designed to be so excellent and modern that these special hospitals would be all that's needed to care for an outbreak should we get on and stop it in its tracks there. None of the BSL-4 viruses are airborne... it's not like flu season where thousands and thousands are affected. In this country and most any other first world country these few BSL-4 viruses are so rare we basically don't get them, period.

For cripes sake, if I know all this than surely the CDC does, too, and one hell of a lot more. So, why the HELL did they not send Mr. Duncan to one of the four hospitals with the environment, staff, equipment, etc. to not only care for him but STOP EBOLA FROM SPREADING.

Thanks to the utter willful negligence of the CDC we now have a minor outbreak that could grow far worse to a point where we CAN'T handle it because our regular hospitals with regular environment, equipment and staff CAN't handle. And they still haven't woken up to the fact that after screwing up so badly gambling with peoples' lives they need to get their heads out of their asses and send these two infected workers to one of our four BSL-4 level hospital for care and to stop more infection spread from those two. Anyone else that becomes infected by the cluster-fuck at the Dallas hospital also needs to be sent to those hospitals so they can stop the infection from spreading. The Dallas hospital caring for these two infected workers is GOING to continue to screw up with more people getting infected caring for THEM.

Has the CDC sent in a special team to care for them since they made that decision? If not, why not? Will that team have what it requires in everything they need to do? Is the makeshift ICU now set up to be able to be contained and can it be with negative airflow and separate waste containment and disposal? It STILL doesn't make any sense to not have these two other workers sent to where they need to go to ensure infection from THEIR care doesn't continue to spread.

This minor outbreak is the fault of the CDC for assuring the Dallas hospital they could successfully care for an Ebola patient when they HAD to know they couldn't. It's their JOB to know. It's their JOB to have correct protocols and correct environment and staff with the experience and training to handle a BSL-4 infected patient. It's their JOB to be on hand to monitor and supervise everything that goes on to stop any mistakes before they happen and to make sure things are done as properly as they can be because it's their JOB to be the go-to agency of the country for everything about infectious disease, preparedness and containment. And now we find out the hard way that the head of this agency is an inept bureaucratic ninny without a clue that for no reason is gambling with peoples' lives and CAUSING an outbreak with his ineptitude when everything would have been fine had he just sent Mr. Duncan to one of the four BSL-4 hospitals just as all the infected AMERICANS were. And for that he not only needs to be fired but put in jail for willfully putting lives at risk for infection of a deadly incurable disease, and OF COURSE that happened.

[KittyWampus]

42. The CDC DID NOT TREAT ANYONE.

[LisaL]

45. CDC was charge of monitoring Mr. Duncan's contacts.

Now we find out one of the persons infected by Mr. Duncan flew to OH and back.
When she wasn't supposed to have been flying on commercial airline.

[philosslayer]

109. Yet, the CDC cleared the nurse to fly.

She called, and they said her fever wasn't high enough. I think the Director and the CDC are making some critical mistakes.

[Crunchy Frog]

65. Plus 1000.

[Puzzledtraveller]

87. ^^this^^

shared my thoughts exactly.

[marions ghost]

96. Good questions...

many heads will roll, I feel. But maybe not the best time to fire the CDC head.

[Warren DeMontague]

114. I agree. The CDC has been telling us for months that "we're ready for ebola".

It would seem they spent more time focus testing that sound bite, than they did actually making sure that "we" are really "ready".

[Blue_Roses]

31. No.

N/t

[Lars39]

38. We desperately need a Surgeon General in place.

We should hardly even know who's in charge at CDC.

[YarnAddict]

88. What would a Surgeon General do

that the head of the CDC couldn't do?

[Lars39]

90. At the very least be the face and mouthpiece, allowing the CDC to concentrate

on what needs to be done. Right now it seems like he's putting out fires instead of being pro-active.

[Jim Beard]

91. George's Bush's

Surgeon General stated this morning one was needed. He can be a master planner of all those involved in health. To the don't want toers, you should think Obama should call ever person that is head of every division of each sub agency. Try a different logic.

[Crunchy Frog]

41. I think he's our "Heckuva job Bownie".

I don't get the way some people on here are defending the way that Frieden and the CDC have been dropping the ball during this crisis.

[Warren DeMontague]

112. They've even said themselves that they've "dropped the ball", now, twice I think.

That makes, what, two balls?

How many balls do they get?

[Vinca]

47. I think the blame falls on this hospital.

They are 100% responsible for not immediately isolating the first patient and not providing their staff with decent training and equipment for dealing with such a case. According to what I've heard today, ebola training was optional. And from what the nurses are saying, precautions didn't amount to much more than what might be used for a flu victim. The CDC could always do more, but they can't be everywhere. This may well end up being in hospitals all over the country thanks to plane-riding exposed nurses.

[apples and oranges]

50. Yes, but this is a national concern. If that hospital was the only thing standing in between

a nationwide outbreak, the CDC should have been heavily involved. A memo is not enough when it comes to something this deadly.

[LisaL]

66. Decision was made to leave Mr. Duncan in the hospital.

When he should have been flown into biosafety level 4 hospital.
Now we are paying the price.

[LisaL]

71. I don't know if he would or wouldn't have survived.

But if he was removed,however many people will end up infected likely would not have been infected.

[Jim Beard]

82. You are 100% correct. This is Texas

This photo was taken by the gas pumps at a Texas convenience store. It has been this way for AT LEAST 3 years...............

<a href=".html" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt=" photo 10679846_1561230630763320_6195930859014497793_o2.jpg"/></a>

[Warren DeMontague]

113. Or maybe we could have done what some of us have been saying for months, and restrict entry to

visa holders like Mr. Duncan, until this is under control.

But the CDC and the Administration adamantly refuses to do that, since apparently the economies of these 3 countries are fully and totally dependent upon a handful of vacationers being able to come to the US every week.

[apples and oranges]

49. Yes. I could have done a better job, quite frankly. He can be a spokesperson

perhaps. But under his watch, a hospital forced nurses to give care to an Ebola patient without the proper protective gear on, 2 nurses are sick, and now a plane full of passengers has been exposed (even AFTER it was revealed that the 77 healthcare workers were all exposed somehow). We still don't know what happened with the guys who were power spraying vomit. None of that shit would have happened under someone who had a healthy balance of optimism/pessimism.

On top of that, mistakes are still being made. The 75 workers are still free to come and go as they please.

Then we have a potentially infected dog that will be able to spread the virus to other dogs and maybe jump to humans at some point.
But hey, we don't want the public to panic!

[Puzzledtraveller]

55. yes

[Kalidurga]

74. No

He was operating under the protocols that were in place at the time. Those should be changed maybe. But, we don't punish people for not knowing the unknown, well usually.

[riverwalker]

76. No

but the CEO and medical director of the hospital should be. CDC told the hospitals in August, all of them, to prepare for Ebola. They have no excuse not to be ready in October.

[etherealtruth]

79. Agree

Technically, the hospital did not follow SOPs for infectious disease and isolation .... regardless of the pathogen.

clearly the nursing staff understood this and raised their concerns ....over and over.

[Tarheel_Dem]

78. Oh Lawd Jeebus!

[mikehiggins]

84. no

[Tweedy]

85. No

But we might want to make certain every hospital is following basic rules, like ensuring the treating physician gets the patient's history. This is basic, whether Ebola exists in the world, or not.

[treestar]

93. No, I think that sort of thing is for show

Nothing is perfect, and this kind of thing is finding a scapegoat. It would have happened no matter who was the director.

[GoCubsGo]

116. Exactly right.

If people are looking for someone to fire, they should look at the assholes in Congress who have been slashing funding for things like this, as well as for research into finding a vaccine.

[locks]

100. If we had single payer health care

decent funding, and good regulation of hospitals, doctors, pharmaceuticals, health agencies, and international cooperation we would have stopped ebola with a vaccine years ago. The problem, as always, is that the free market and the corporations care only about profits, not people.
The CDC and public health in most states are run by committed people. If the public health system had been given to private corporations you can be sure this would be a pandemic nightmare here not just in West Africa.

[notadmblnd]

101. I think he's become complacent in his position

But I think that goes for many people in leadership positions, especially republican leaders. I have no idea if he has a medical background or how long it has been since he practiced or if he's just another bean counter with an MBA? Perhaps if we had a Surgeon General (who's responsible for the US not having one?) Frieden would have a sense of direction?

[Warpy]

102. I doubt he micromanages to that extent.

Contagion hysteria provokes people to do exactly the wrong thing at first. Firing an otherwise capable head of the CDC is one of them.

Now if it is shown that he misallocated resources and did yearly office redecoration and threw massively expensive and booze laden parties for upper management, that's another thing altogether and his head should roll.

I doubt that's the case considering how far the CDC budget was slashed.

[ctaylors6]

103. maybe he should be demoted to answering the phones

since he's so sure Amber Vinson shouldn't have been flying

[Warren DeMontague]

111. Why? He's doing a heckuva job, isn't he?

[LisaL]

115. Yes, he sure does.

CDC just allowed Mr. Duncan's contact to fly with a fever, even though she shouldn't have been flying at all.
Rarely does one see such incompetence.

[MattBaggins]

119. Fer fucks sake

What next? draw and quarter him?