Rand Paul wants you to believe that Ebola is 'incredibly contagious'

[uhnope]

Source: The Week

Two of the nearly 100 nurses and medical staff who were in close contact with dying Ebola patient Thomas Duncan in Dallas have tested positive for the virus, so far. But on Thursday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told a group of students at New Hampshire's Plymouth State University that Ebola is "incredibly contagious," that you can spread it from 3 feet away, and that "if someone has Ebola at a cocktail party they're contagious and you can catch it from them." The White House "should be honest about that."

Paul is an ophthalmologist, but infections disease experts disagree with his diagnosis. Paul's "3 feet" statement is based on CDC guidelines for health-care workers dealing with symptomatic (thus highly contagious) patients — it considers prolonged periods within up to 3 feet of a patient without protective gear to be "low-risk" contact.

The CDC, World Health Organization, and other Ebola experts say the only way to catch Ebola is through direct contact with blood, vomit, feces, or other body fluids. "The virus has not become an airborne transmitted disease since it was first identified in the 1970s," says CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

Read more: http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/270093/speedreads-rand-paul-wants-you-to-believe-that-ebola-is-incredibly-contagious

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And he wants to be president

[oldandhappy]

1. Fearmonger

and liar.

[Fred Sanders]

24. He has good company right here on DU in the fear mongering department, but he does it on purpose.

[elleng]

2. Incredible

[underpants]

5. He shouldn't have said 3 feet - "a 10 foot pole" would be more apt

Coming the Stan Laurel lookalike

[Chakab]

3. ....but, but, but he has palatable opinions on a handful of issues that some

prominent elected Democrats are bad on that he plays up strictly for the purpose of appearing to be "moderate" during his impending Presidential run, so we should take him seriously, right?

[riverbendviewgal]

4. he is an irresponsible doctor

what a quack.

[PatrynXX]

6. I'll have to ask the dog

Hound's naturally want to kiss a dog lover so naturally this texan dog was around while we were on vacation last week. that would be my only contact with a texan. via a wet cold nose. Passing ebola to a dog can be done. but rare. Totally unheard off ie 0 % is the dog passing it to the human. Spain already did something moronic murdering the dog they thought had it. I should assume Spain would be the first to kill humans to contain it. Did not know Rand Paul was for that BIG a Government X_X

[asiliveandbreathe]

7. Can we get an observation from

a group of (how many) students at New Hampshire's Plymouth State University who were subjected to this Rand crap. We as parents who have children in college, do not appreciate the efforts by those like Paul who create fear - my child is there to learn - I see no value in the time they might spend listening to crap!

Colleges should be on alert, and have hazmat procedures already in place...you know, for those after party events...

[yellowcanine]

8. Well projectile vomiting would be one good reason to stay back at least 3 feet.

But of course someone with Ebola who is projectile vomiting is not going to be hanging out at cocktail parties. The man is nuts.

[jonjensen]

9. vote republican or die from ebola! This is g.o.p.'s october surprise.

Republiscum are already saying because there is no travel ban because the president is afraid it will damage west africa's fragile economy. They say the president considers himself president of africa as well as america and is more concerned with them then us. When they are called racists they say you want to be a racist or do you want to die from ebola! We must be ready to counter this or people will vote against ebola by voting republican. They are already saying new ebola czar is political hack. We must counter this NOW!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

31. I have yet to hear what their plan(s) is for fighting Ebola

other than an ineffectual "travel ban". I haven't heard about them running back to Washington to confirm a new Surgeon General.

[bluedigger]

10. He also wants me to believe he is a professionally accredited physician.

Fuck Rand Paul.

[arcane1]

11. When will he reveal his market-based solution to the Ebola "crisis"?

Surely he doesn't think this is a job for Big Gov'ment, right?

[Thor_MN]

19. What conservatives don't get is that the US medical system IS their market based solution

They have exactly what they have always wanted, a privatized system, and now they are screaming in panic for "socialized" interventions.

[bullwinkle428]

12. Extra shameful when someone with an "M.D." after their name is pushing this crap.

[JoePhilly]

13. Stupid is "incredibly contagious" among his base.

[GeorgeGist]

14. Rand is not even a real opthamologist.

[Rebl]

25. I thought

He was no longer licensed to practice.

[Android3.14]

15. As do several other fearmongers here

The stupid is spreading.

We have many sufferers of the disease of rampant panicked stupidity, also known as WeBola, right here, and they just can't seem to help themselves when it comes to explosive smokey bovine diarrhea, projectile fomenting, and internal bleating.

It's the only (hot)airborne outbreak I've noticed since Ebola became the current boogeyman.

[ColesCountyDem]

16. As the son of a physician, all I can say is ...

Shame on you, 'Doctor' Paul! Hippocrates would personally hound you out of the profession, were he alive!

[candelista]

33. The son of a physician? That makes you an expert?

That's not good enough. You have to play one on TV.

[ColesCountyDem]

34. LOL!

[geardaddy]

17. fuckwit

[RussBLib]

18. this kinda crap should disqualify him for public office

If the Republicans didn't have fear to motivate their base, the Dems would crush them every time.

Why would anyone take the Republicans seriously on anything? Because their base is not too bright to begin with.

[Dopers_Greed]

20. Can the ebola virus live in hairpieces?

Who knows what's festering in that brillo pad.

[SoapBox]

21. ...stupid fuck.

[uppityperson]

22. frp and I guess it depends on what you do at those cocktail parties

[Initech]

23. Whipping people into a needless frenzy!!!!

[AndreaCG]

26. His father also said stupid things about Ebola

Just goes to show you being a doctor is no guarantee of medical knowledge or ethics.

[pitohui]

27. dude if it was incredibly contagious, we'd know it by now

two ppl have been infected because of poor procedures at one hospital

if you think that's incredibly contagious how do you even leave the house during flu season? thousands die of flu and pneumonia every year & i haven't heard paul say a word about containing that

[oberliner]

28. Is sweat one of the "other bodily fluids" ?

If so, that's a pretty important thing to know.

[Orsino]

29. Therefore it isn't.

That was easy.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. Sounds like

Paul ought to resign his Senate seat and go hide under his bed and let the adults handle this crisis. I mean, if it's that contagious, he shouldn't be out walking around with a Hazmat suit, right?

[cannabis_flower]

32. It isn't...

incredibly contagious, it's incredibly infectious. Meaning it takes a very small amount of virus to be infected. But since it's not airborne, it's not incredibly contagious. It's still a very dangerous disease.