CDC trucks raise questions in Hickory (NC)

[B2G]

Sorry, but I find this explanation hard to believe...

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Rad Berky, WCNC 7:11 p.m. EDT October 16, 2014

HICKORY, N.C. – Four tractor trailer trucks from the Centers for Disease Control triggered concerns Thursday that there was something related to Ebola going on in Hickory.

A CDC Project Manager, Janis Eklund, said there was no Ebola scare.

"Absolutely not," she said.

Eklund said the trucks are used as part of a study concerning the health and nutritional status of people living in the greater Hickory area, but she understands why seeing CDC trucks in the city triggered immediate concern."So, I'm hoping that once they hear that and know why we are really here, that will dispel their worries," said Eklund.

http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/health/2014/10/16/cdc-trucks-raise-questions-in-hickory/17371623/

[cwydro]

1. Problem is

CDC has a wee bit of a credibility problem right now.

[FSogol]

3. The CDC only has a credibility problem in the RW media.

In the reality-based real world, the CDC is doing fine despite their budget being $1 billion dollars lower in 2013 than their 2002 budget.

[JoePhilly]

6. + 100

[KingCharlemagne]

11. Does 'RW media' include this discussion board? Yesterday, it emerged after the

director of the CDC had said Nurse Vinson shouldn't have flown that one of his own staffers had cleared her to fly with a 99.5 temperature. I don't know what your definition of 'credibility problem' is but that disconnect yesterday does not speak well for the management of the CDC.

[FSogol]

12. Today it is being reported that the Texas Health Board cleared her to fly, not the CDC.

And yes, there are some on this board who want to spread FUD.

Last thing needed right now is knee jerk changes at the CDC due to political pressures. Let the pros do their job.

[KingCharlemagne]

16. OK, I must confess I have not been following this story minute-by-minute, so was

not aware that it wasn't the CDC that cleared her. I have lost confidence in the CDC myself over the way Frieden seemed to be throwing line workers under the bus to save his own ass. That doesn't comport with my idea of a medical professional who is supposed to tell the truth and damn the consequences.

I hope my loss of confidence isn't construed as 'FUD'.

[FSogol]

17. Nah, wasn't pointing at you.

As for Frieden, no matter how prepared you are for something, there will always be problems. Give him a chance to fix them. Shoving him out the door at this point would be a huge mistake. Hopefully, the problems in Texas are a wake up call for hospitals and clinics all over the country that really aren't prepared. They can begin ordering better containment supplies, think of ways to create isolation wards, and increase training.

[B2G]

4. And even if it IS true, which I doubt

They would be better off spending this money to study the health of people living in Dallas.

What's in those tractor tailer trucks?

[snooper2]

9. I'm PRETTY sure the CDC can multi-task

[FSogol]

13. Especially on something that was probably planned 6 months ago. n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

2. can't say I blame you

I would imagine that the Ebola crisis here and in West Africa has all their hands on deck for that.

I'm thinking it may be waste disposal. Could be the CDC has a contract with some company there to cook up biohazard waste.

[woodsprite]

5. I'd believe them -- unless you see people walking around in bio hazmat suits.

Being a campus community, the CDC and NIH have stayed in pretty close contact in our area as well. I know they have been working on an ongoing regional study that seems to raise it's head just about the time flu season starts every year. A group I work with is involved with removing personal identifiers from the data that they need to access.

[JoePhilly]

7. Aliens from outer space go to Hickory ...

... to see the leaves change color.

The CDC is there to study the aliens.

So .... Shusssh!!! It's a secret!

[MineralMan]

8. The CDC is involved in a wide range of public health projects.

They're not just the Ebola people. Anything like this Hickory, NC study has been in the planning stages for a long time. There's no reason to stop doing their regular work. Not everyone at the CDC is involved in the Ebola situation, nor is everyone at the CDC even involved in epidemiology.

There are many CDC projects. This is apparently one of them.

[hobbit709]

10. Paranoia strikes deep....

[B2G]

14. Details here:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/participant.htm

"The Mobile Exam Center (MEC) is made up of four trailers, linked sideways, which contain high-tech medical equipment. The MEC is situated in a location convenient for participants."

[MineralMan]

15. Well, looking at the CDC website, I discovered that the Hickory, NC

area is one of the population centers the CDC uses for statistical analysis of a wide range of health issues. They have an ongoing statistical data gathering program on health issues of all kinds that focuses on the same population centers over many years. From their documents, this goes back for at least a couple of decades. Statistics is what the CDC is about, to a large degree.

The trucks there have to do with that, not the Ebola situation. The CDC doesn't drop all of its projects to focus on individual situations. It's a bigger organization than that. The people involved in these statistical projects have nothing to do with epidemiology or crisis management. It's something completely different.

Go to the CDC main site and search for Hickory, NC in the handy search box. You'll get a long list of documents about this statistical project over the years.

[B2G]

18. I just posted the link to the study

up there ^^^

[MineralMan]

19. We appear to have posted at about the same time.

I was digging out information while you were posting that link. Personally, I prefer to go do the digging before posting in the first place. Your mileage may differ. I saw your post after posting mine. It happens a lot around here.

[B2G]

20. Complain to the MSM

I posted a news link that's been all over locally.

Maybe they should do a little digging before publishing news reports.