Ebola In America: Day 8
Thomas Duncan, the Liberian national being treated for Ebola in Dallas, died this morning just before 8:00 a.m.
The Associated Press writes that "Dallas is a city on edge as it approaches the first Ebola incubation deadline this week." Nearly 50 people who came into contact with Mr. Duncan are being closely monitored. Texas Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey, said, "We're at a very sensitive period when a contact could develop symptoms. We're monitoring with extreme vigilance." A second possible case of Ebola is currently being investigated.
While officials at the Centers for Disease Control continue to put on a happy face, the Los Angeles Times interviewed several Ebola experts who said that "such assurances are premature." Consider these excerpts:
"Dr. C.J. Peters, who battled a 1989 outbreak of the virus among research monkeys housed in Virginia and who later led the CDC's most far-reaching study of Ebola's transmissibility in humans, said he would not rule out the possibility that it spreads through the air in tight quarters. 'We just don't have the data to exclude it,' said Peters."
"Dr. Philip K. Russell, a virologist who oversaw Ebola research while heading the U.S. Army's Medical Research and Development Command . . . also said much was still to be learned. 'Being dogmatic is, I think, ill-advised, because there are too many unknowns here.' . . .
"'I see the reasons to dampen down public fears,' Russell said. 'But scientifically, we're in the middle of the first experiment of multiple, serial passages of Ebola virus in man. . . . God knows what this virus is going to look like. I don't.'"
"Moreover, said some public health specialists, there is no proof that a person infected -- but who lacks symptoms -- could not spread the virus to others. 'It's really unclear,' said Michael Osterholm, a public health scientist at the University of Minnesota who recently served on the U.S. government's National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity. 'None of us know.'"
"Finally, some also question the official assertion that Ebola cannot be transmitted through the air. In late 1989, virus researcher Charles L. Bailey supervised the government's response to an outbreak of Ebola among several dozen rhesus monkeys housed for research in Reston, Va., a suburb of Washington. . . .
"'Those monkeys were dying in a pattern that was certainly suggestive of coughing and sneezing -- some sort of aerosol movement,' Bailey said. 'They were dying and spreading it so quickly from cage to cage. We finally came to the conclusion that the best action was to euthanize them all.'"
"Katie Bar The Door"
Speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., yesterday, Marine Corps General John F. Kelly, commander of U.S. Southern Command, offered a stark warning about the possibility that Ebola might spread to Latin America. General Kelly said:
"By the end of the year, there's supposed to be 1.4 million people infected with Ebola and 62 percent of them dying, according to the CDC. That's horrific. And there is no way we can keep Ebola [contained] in West Africa. If it breaks out, it's literally, 'Katie bar the door,' and there will be mass migration into the United States. They will run away from Ebola, or if they suspect they are infected, they will try to get to the United States for treatment."
By the way, General Kelly added that a group of men from Liberia were recently detained in Costa Rica. "They met up with the network in Trinidad and now they were on their way to the United States -- illegally, of course." Kelly said, "They could have made it to New York City and still be within the incubation period for Ebola."
ISIS Here?
Rep. Duncan Hunter, Jr. (R-CA) made a troubling assertion last night on Greta Van Susteren's show. Duncan said: "I know that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas. . . . If they catch five or ten of them then you know there's going to be dozens more that did not get caught by the border patrol." Watch it here.
This afternoon a spokeswoman at the Department of Homeland Security said Hunter's statement was "categorically false." Hunter's office stands by his remarks.
If tens of thousands of children can cross our borders, ISIS could too. Border security IS national security.
Is Obama Losing?
It's been nearly a month since Barack Obama addressed the nation with his strategy to combat ISIS. So far, it seems Obama is losing that war.
It was reported earlier this week that ISIS has captured the city of Abu Ghraib -- about 25 miles from Baghdad. Meanwhile in Syria, the city of Kobani, on the Turkish border, is about to fall. The city has a significant Kurdish population, which is doing its best to resist the ISIS onslaught.
On MSNBC this morning, Jeffrey Goldberg said that the residents of Kobani are desperate, fearing that ISIS "will go hunting, looking for every Kurdish enemy . . . putting people's heads on spikes."
A Kurdish official told Goldberg, "A terrible slaughter is coming. If they take the city, we should expect to have 5,000 dead within 24 or 36 hours." But CNN reports that Obama Administration officials are saying, "It's not a big concern."
Lisa Myers, formerly a top reporter for NBC News, told Morning Joe that sources inside the Pentagon have "profound misgivings" about Obama's strategy that is warning the enemy in advance and targeting empty buildings.
Myers said one senior official told her, "We know how to do this. We know how to do airstrikes that make a difference, but we're not doing it. We're doing these pinprick operations instead of sustained, intense bombing that would actually degrade ISIS."