5 Alarming Reasons Americans Need to Pay Attention to Ebola RIGHT NOW
by Daisy Luther
People like to think of Ebola as a disease that only strikes
superstitious locals
in the deepest jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But just
like the last time the disease made it to our shores, there are warning
signs and it’s time to start paying attention.
There are several events in the news that when looked at together, lead to concerns we could be looking at a replay of 2014.
This article is not being written to demonize people from certain
regions or the world, to bring up arguments for or against immigration,
or to scare the pants off you. It’s a collection of facts that I’ve
written with as little bias as possible.
A quick recap of the 2014 outbreak that made its way to our shores
Everyone remembers the Ebola outbreak of 2014. It ripped through West
Africa for two years, killing over 11,000 people and sickening nearly
30,000. But the reason WE remember it in the United States is that it
crept into our country. Shortly after
the CDC warned us to prepare for a potential Ebola pandemic, the first case was
diagnosed in Dallas, Texas,
when a man from West Africa visited the hospital on two occasions,
having been turned away the first time as just having “the flu.” The
original patient died, and two nurses caring for him caught the
potentially deadly virus. One patient
completely overwhelmed an entire hospital.
It is honestly shocking that more people didn’t become ill, as
one nurse traveled on a plane while sick, and in another incident, a
doctor in New York City
who had volunteered in Guinea was also diagnosed. All in all, eleven
people in the United States were treated for Ebola (that we know of,
anyway) and it certainly wasn’t because of the expert handling of the
near-crisis. It was pure luck.
There were all sorts of mismanagement. Everything from
not requiring a quarantine of travelers returning from the affected area to
housing 11 potential cases in a hotel to a
ship from Liberia with sick passengers being allowed to dock in New Orleans to the
near-disastrous handling of contaminated samples in Dallas, it is an absolute miracle that there was no major outbreak in the US.
If there were hundreds or thousands of patients across the country,
it wouldn’t take long for things to devolve into absolute chaos.
Ebola can have a death rate as high as 90%.
1) The DRC is in the midst of the second largest Ebola outbreak in history.
According to the World Health Organization,
confirmed cases of Ebola have exceeded 2000 in the DRC. This makes it
the second-largest outbreak in history, after the 2014-2016 epidemic.
There are several reasons that the WHO has been unable to get a
handle on this outbreak. Last year, I wrote about how the families of
Ebola patients were
breaking them out of quarantine and taking them to prayer meetings. I also wrote that the disease had
reached a major urban center, increasing the likelihood of its spread.
The area at the heart of the outbreak is a warzone, which makes it
difficult for doctors to treat patients, and at the same time, the
patients are untrusting of modern medicine. People are
fleeing Ebola-stricken villages in fear, which just makes the spread more likely.
2) Ebola is no longer contained within the DRC
Today it was reported that Ebola has hopped the border into Uganda,
where today, a young patient died. The five-year-old deceased has two
relatives who have also tested positive.
Zero Hedge reports:
On Wednesday, health experts in both countries were
scrambling to understand how the boy’s relatives crossed the border on
June 9th, and who they may have infected along the way. The boy was
taken to a Ugandan hospital after vomiting blood and exhibiting other
symptoms, while two relatives of the boy also tested positive for Ebola. Uganda
has been heavily screening visitors from Congo for signs of fever, and
has vaccinated more than 4,700 health workers against the disease
according to a joint statement by WHO and Ugandan officials.
Uganda’s health ministry said the boy’s mother, who is
Congolese but married to a Ugandan and living in the Kasese district of
Uganda, had travelled back to Congo to nurse her sick father, who
subsequently died of Ebola. On returning to Uganda, the boy had
started coughing up blood and vomiting and was taken to Kagando
hospital where health workers immediately suspected Ebola.
A sample of his blood tested positive for Ebola and on Wednesday two
of the boy’s relatives were also confirmed to have contracted the
disease. –Financial Times (source)
Experts have warned if Ebola spreads into other countries that the virus will become even more difficult to contain.
Angola, which shares a border with the DRC,
has closed that border to prevent the spread of the virus into their country.
3) The Department of Border Patrol just apprehended a large group of people from Africa
In a press release, the Border Patrol announced on May 31 that they
had apprehended 116 people from Africa trying to cross the Mexican/US
border.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Station apprehended a large group of 116 individuals Thursday.
“Large groups present a unique challenge for the men and women of the
Del Rio Sector,” said Chief Raul Ortiz. “This large group from Africa
further demonstrates the complexity and severity of the border security
and humanitarian crisis at our Southwest border.”
Agents performing line watch operations apprehended the group after
they illegally crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. around 10:30 p.m.
This is the first large group apprehended in the Del Rio Sector and
the first large group of people from Africa – including nationals from
Angola, Cameroon and Congo – apprehended on the Southwest border this
year. (source)
Here’s a
video of the apprehension. This link came from the press release above.
4) And these aren’t the only people from the DRC coming into the United States through Mexico.
Border Patrol says that there’s an uptick of migrants from this part
of the world entering the United States through the Southern border.
On June 5, agents assigned to the Eagle Pass Station
arrested a group of 34 people from the continent of Africa. Since May
30, more than 500 people from the continent of Africa have been arrested
by the U.S. Border Patrol in Del Rio Sector. Agents have encountered
immigrants from Africa crossing the Rio Grande River in multiple
separate events, including one group of over 100 individuals. These
groups are primarily made up of family units from the Republic of the
Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. (source)
On June 6, San Antonio news station put out a desperate plea for
French-speaking volunteers to help with an influx of migrants from the
area. Interim Assistant City Manager Dr. Collen Bridger shared the
details of the situation with KEN 5:
Bridger said the Congolese migrants began to arrive in
town on Tuesday. They told Migrant Resource Center workers, they
traveled with a group of about 350 migrants through Ecuador to the
southern border.
“When we called Border Patrol to confirm, they said, ‘yea another 200
to 300 from the Congo and Angola will be coming to San Antonio,'”
Bridger said.
That included Masengi, a Congolese migrant, who didn’t want to have
his face on camera but told KENS 5 via Google Translate he arrived to
the southern border as an asylum seeker.
He said he came to America for security reasons and said, “My family
is staying in my country but with the help of the USA I can get it
back.” (source)
San Antonio will be sending the asylum seekers to other cities across the United States.
…The city opened up the Frank Garrett Center to house the
Congolese migrants for the weekend, but after that, they’re not sure
where they’ll house them especially since they don’t know how long some
of them will be here.
“The plan was 350 of them would travel from San Antonio to Portland.
When we reached out to Portland Maine they said, ‘Please don’t send us
any more. We’re already stretched way beyond our capacity,” Bridger
said.
“So we’re working with them [the migrants] now to identify other
cities throughout the United States where they can go and begin their
asylum seeking process. (source)
Obviously, just because a person is Congolese doesn’t mean they are
infected with Ebola. These are just a series of connecting facts to
which we should pay attention.
At this time, there is no evidence that anyone has Ebola in the
United States, including Congolese asylum seekers. Border Patrol has
said
this internet rumor is
not true.
5) The medical screening process is overwhelmed
Another concern is the quick screening process performed by
physicians at the border. There has been a massive influx of immigrants
crossing through from Mexico into the United States and
the system is overwhelmed.
While every person crossing has some kind of health check-up, Ebola
is difficult to catch in the early stages. According to the CDC:
Diagnosing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) shortly after
infection can be difficult. Early symptoms of EVD such as fever,
headache, and weakness are not specific to Ebola virus infection and
often are seen in patients with other more common diseases, like malaria
and typhoid fever.
To determine whether Ebola virus infection is a possible diagnosis, there must be a combination of symptoms suggestive of EVD AND a possible exposure to EVD within 21 days before the onset of symptoms (source)
I was
unable to find detailed information
on the exact screening process for asylum seekers crossing the border
from Mexico. If someone locates it, please share it in the comments so I
can update this article.
Conclusion
The stage is being set for what could be a catastrophe of epic proportion. Here’s
what you need to know to prep for a potential Ebola outbreak in the United States and here’s a
detailed book about prepping for a variety of pandemics. Here’s more information about
how Ebola is transmitted.
The United States dodged the bullet last time Ebola cast its shadow here. Will we get that lucky again?
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes
about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the
pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company. She lives in the mountains of Virginia with her family. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
by Daisy Luther
People like to think of Ebola as a disease that only strikes
superstitious locals
in the deepest jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo. But just
like the last time the disease made it to our shores, there are warning
signs and it’s time to start paying attention.
There are several events in the news that when looked at together, lead to concerns we could be looking at a replay of 2014.
This article is not being written to demonize people from certain
regions or the world, to bring up arguments for or against immigration,
or to scare the pants off you. It’s a collection of facts that I’ve
written with as little bias as possible.
A quick recap of the 2014 outbreak that made its way to our shores
Everyone remembers the Ebola outbreak of 2014. It ripped through West
Africa for two years, killing over 11,000 people and sickening nearly
30,000. But the reason WE remember it in the United States is that it
crept into our country. Shortly after
the CDC warned us to prepare for a potential Ebola pandemic, the first case was
diagnosed in Dallas, Texas,
when a man from West Africa visited the hospital on two occasions,
having been turned away the first time as just having “the flu.” The
original patient died, and two nurses caring for him caught the
potentially deadly virus. One patient
completely overwhelmed an entire hospital.
It is honestly shocking that more people didn’t become ill, as
one nurse traveled on a plane while sick, and in another incident, a
doctor in New York City
who had volunteered in Guinea was also diagnosed. All in all, eleven
people in the United States were treated for Ebola (that we know of,
anyway) and it certainly wasn’t because of the expert handling of the
near-crisis. It was pure luck.
There were all sorts of mismanagement. Everything from
not requiring a quarantine of travelers returning from the affected area to
housing 11 potential cases in a hotel to a
ship from Liberia with sick passengers being allowed to dock in New Orleans to the
near-disastrous handling of contaminated samples in Dallas, it is an absolute miracle that there was no major outbreak in the US.
If there were hundreds or thousands of patients across the country,
it wouldn’t take long for things to devolve into absolute chaos.
Ebola can have a death rate as high as 90%.
1) The DRC is in the midst of the second largest Ebola outbreak in history.
According to the World Health Organization,
confirmed cases of Ebola have exceeded 2000 in the DRC. This makes it
the second-largest outbreak in history, after the 2014-2016 epidemic.
There are several reasons that the WHO has been unable to get a
handle on this outbreak. Last year, I wrote about how the families of
Ebola patients were
breaking them out of quarantine and taking them to prayer meetings. I also wrote that the disease had
reached a major urban center, increasing the likelihood of its spread.
The area at the heart of the outbreak is a warzone, which makes it
difficult for doctors to treat patients, and at the same time, the
patients are untrusting of modern medicine. People are
fleeing Ebola-stricken villages in fear, which just makes the spread more likely.
2) Ebola is no longer contained within the DRC
Today it was reported that Ebola has hopped the border into Uganda,
where today, a young patient died. The five-year-old deceased has two
relatives who have also tested positive.
Zero Hedge reports:
On Wednesday, health experts in both countries were
scrambling to understand how the boy’s relatives crossed the border on
June 9th, and who they may have infected along the way. The boy was
taken to a Ugandan hospital after vomiting blood and exhibiting other
symptoms, while two relatives of the boy also tested positive for Ebola. Uganda
has been heavily screening visitors from Congo for signs of fever, and
has vaccinated more than 4,700 health workers against the disease
according to a joint statement by WHO and Ugandan officials.
Uganda’s health ministry said the boy’s mother, who is
Congolese but married to a Ugandan and living in the Kasese district of
Uganda, had travelled back to Congo to nurse her sick father, who
subsequently died of Ebola. On returning to Uganda, the boy had
started coughing up blood and vomiting and was taken to Kagando
hospital where health workers immediately suspected Ebola.
A sample of his blood tested positive for Ebola and on Wednesday two
of the boy’s relatives were also confirmed to have contracted the
disease. –Financial Times (source)
Experts have warned if Ebola spreads into other countries that the virus will become even more difficult to contain.
Angola, which shares a border with the DRC,
has closed that border to prevent the spread of the virus into their country.
3) The Department of Border Patrol just apprehended a large group of people from Africa
In a press release, the Border Patrol announced on May 31 that they
had apprehended 116 people from Africa trying to cross the Mexican/US
border.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Del Rio Station apprehended a large group of 116 individuals Thursday.
“Large groups present a unique challenge for the men and women of the
Del Rio Sector,” said Chief Raul Ortiz. “This large group from Africa
further demonstrates the complexity and severity of the border security
and humanitarian crisis at our Southwest border.”
Agents performing line watch operations apprehended the group after
they illegally crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. around 10:30 p.m.
This is the first large group apprehended in the Del Rio Sector and
the first large group of people from Africa – including nationals from
Angola, Cameroon and Congo – apprehended on the Southwest border this
year. (source)
Here’s a
video of the apprehension. This link came from the press release above.
4) And these aren’t the only people from the DRC coming into the United States through Mexico.
Border Patrol says that there’s an uptick of migrants from this part
of the world entering the United States through the Southern border.
On June 5, agents assigned to the Eagle Pass Station
arrested a group of 34 people from the continent of Africa. Since May
30, more than 500 people from the continent of Africa have been arrested
by the U.S. Border Patrol in Del Rio Sector. Agents have encountered
immigrants from Africa crossing the Rio Grande River in multiple
separate events, including one group of over 100 individuals. These
groups are primarily made up of family units from the Republic of the
Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola. (source)
On June 6, San Antonio news station put out a desperate plea for
French-speaking volunteers to help with an influx of migrants from the
area. Interim Assistant City Manager Dr. Collen Bridger shared the
details of the situation with KEN 5:
Bridger said the Congolese migrants began to arrive in
town on Tuesday. They told Migrant Resource Center workers, they
traveled with a group of about 350 migrants through Ecuador to the
southern border.
“When we called Border Patrol to confirm, they said, ‘yea another 200
to 300 from the Congo and Angola will be coming to San Antonio,'”
Bridger said.
That included Masengi, a Congolese migrant, who didn’t want to have
his face on camera but told KENS 5 via Google Translate he arrived to
the southern border as an asylum seeker.
He said he came to America for security reasons and said, “My family
is staying in my country but with the help of the USA I can get it
back.” (source)
San Antonio will be sending the asylum seekers to other cities across the United States.
…The city opened up the Frank Garrett Center to house the
Congolese migrants for the weekend, but after that, they’re not sure
where they’ll house them especially since they don’t know how long some
of them will be here.
“The plan was 350 of them would travel from San Antonio to Portland.
When we reached out to Portland Maine they said, ‘Please don’t send us
any more. We’re already stretched way beyond our capacity,” Bridger
said.
“So we’re working with them [the migrants] now to identify other
cities throughout the United States where they can go and begin their
asylum seeking process. (source)
Obviously, just because a person is Congolese doesn’t mean they are
infected with Ebola. These are just a series of connecting facts to
which we should pay attention.
At this time, there is no evidence that anyone has Ebola in the
United States, including Congolese asylum seekers. Border Patrol has
said
this internet rumor is
not true.
5) The medical screening process is overwhelmed
Another concern is the quick screening process performed by
physicians at the border. There has been a massive influx of immigrants
crossing through from Mexico into the United States and
the system is overwhelmed.
While every person crossing has some kind of health check-up, Ebola
is difficult to catch in the early stages. According to the CDC:
Diagnosing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) shortly after
infection can be difficult. Early symptoms of EVD such as fever,
headache, and weakness are not specific to Ebola virus infection and
often are seen in patients with other more common diseases, like malaria
and typhoid fever.
To determine whether Ebola virus infection is a possible diagnosis, there must be a combination of symptoms suggestive of EVD AND a possible exposure to EVD within 21 days before the onset of symptoms (source)
I was
unable to find detailed information
on the exact screening process for asylum seekers crossing the border
from Mexico. If someone locates it, please share it in the comments so I
can update this article.
Conclusion
The stage is being set for what could be a catastrophe of epic proportion. Here’s
what you need to know to prep for a potential Ebola outbreak in the United States and here’s a
detailed book about prepping for a variety of pandemics. Here’s more information about
how Ebola is transmitted.
The United States dodged the bullet last time Ebola cast its shadow here. Will we get that lucky again?
About Daisy
Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting blogger who writes
about current events, preparedness, frugality, voluntaryism, and the
pursuit of liberty on her website, The Organic Prepper. She is widely republished across alternative media and she curates all the most important news links on her aggregate site, PreppersDailyNews.com. Daisy is the best-selling author of 4 books and runs a small digital publishing company. She lives in the mountains of Virginia with her family. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.
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