Ebola the panic

[nitpicker]

Should YOU panic?

If you are a health care worker, it might be a good time to review wills (and any provisions for keeping your money out of the hands of evil kin/stepkin/etc).

BUT:
One could estimate the current case rate for John Q Public traveling from the three countries to the US:
About 1 in 1000 or once a week.

Can us screening procedures catch this?
About a 1 in 10 chance (unless some genius invents an ebola sensor)

BUT:

A spectre is the theoretical potential for escape.

[seveneyes]

1. Odds currently 2/3 in the USA

Two of the three cases of Ebola here have recklessly endangered innocents. Start squaring those odds and it's not pretty.

[HereSince1628]

5. it's about 50 healthcare workers per TH Presby patient

I don't know about the other hospitals

but a risk of 2 in 100 is about 4 magnitudes larger than this risk to the general population in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

That will leave a mark

[uppityperson]

2. Health care worker who has no plan on reviewing my will. Good god. eom

[Texasgal]

3. Same here.

Jeeze o' peat!

[Marrah_G]

4. The news media is seriously freaking everyone out

They report every single case of someone being tested for it, often with little follow-up that the tests were negative.