Oh my. Is the U.S. really ready for ebola? The men in short sleeves and common clothing below are pressure washing the vomit and blood from ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who got violently sick on the sidewalk outside his family's apartment building before he got in to the ambulance.
If this is our response, head to Costco and batten down the hatches because it's gonna be a bumpy ride. This image was broadcast on local news in Dallas. Please tell me this would look different in CA or VT or NY or other blue states where science prevails?
My apologies to the Russians for the phrase "Russian Roulette" -- that was so 19th century. It looks to me like Texans play this game much better. "Red State Roulette" is the new name of the game.
Now I've used pressure washers. I have one at the house. It splatters, it mists. I wear a mask just to clean my gutters. Note these men are not even wearing respirators, much less hazmat suits. The area is not even properly cordoned off. Where's the run-off going? What's with the flip-flopped spectator within splatter distance? Notice the water bottle ON THE GROUND in the lower left, just outside the wet asphalt.
This follows on the heels of the diary about the stranding of the family, without food or clean up at the apartment. This only puts emphasis on how poor we, or at least among the reddest of the Red States, are handling this crisis.
With almost every day, I'm determined to no longer be surprised by our failings as a society, yet each day I'm presented with another anecdote that leaves my mouth gaping.
1:22 PM PT: WAPO posted an article detailing the time leading up to Duncan's final trip to the ER and the little innocuous actions to lead to infectious vectors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
The officials took everyone’s temperature and told them that they should not leave the apartment.
“We don’t have any food,” Jallah said. “What do we do?”
She was told that she and Yah, but not the kids, could go to the store. The two health officials also said they would return every day to see how the family was doing.
"She" (Jallah), is the daughter that made the call to the paramedics. She had been attending to the man she considers here stepfather, helping him sit up, buying him a blanket from the drug store (which he used and it was brought to the ER where it sat on an adjacent chair). That blanket, which he'd sweat in, was carted around and handled by multiple people.