CDC director RTs USA Today article pooh-poohing Ebola risk

dr tom frieden rt

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, retweeted a USA Today article which asserts that the Ebola virus is “rare, difficult to transmit and kills fewer people than flu, measles.”

The article quotes a medical school professor stating that if Ebola spread easily, “there would be millions of cases, not thousands.”

CDCs own researchers, however, are projecting “that by January 20, 2015, there will be a total of approximately 550,000 Ebola cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone or 1.4 million if corrections for underreporting are made” (emphasis added). By comparison, flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people per year. Measles kills an estimated 164,000 people per year.

Maybe CDC’s projections are too high, or maybe not. The point is that Frieden is pushing a story line that is at odds with his own agency’s predictions.

Related:

CDC director says hospitals ‘must’ comply with CDC’s Ebola guidelines

CDC director Thomas Frieden: ‘The impulse to isolate countries may make #Ebola epidemic worse’

‘If there is no risk to other passengers…’: Reporter has Ebola question for CDC director

Bombshell: Watch CDC director deny then admit that Ebola can be spread by casual contact 

 

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/10/03/cdc-director-rts-usa-today-article-pooh-poohing-ebola-risk/

WaPost: ‘4 Pinocchios’ for Dems saying the GOP cut Ebola funding


Glenn Kessler in today’s Washington Post has a must-read fact check where he awards 4 Pinocchios to Dems and their ads claiming “that only Republicans are to blame for cuts to Ebola research.” Here’s his conclusion:

On many levels, this line of attack is absurd.

Obama’s Republican predecessor oversaw big increases in public-health sector spending, and both Democrats and Republicans in recent years have broadly supported efforts to rein in federal spending. Sequestration resulted from a bipartisan agreement. In some years, Congress has allocated more money for NIH and CDC than the Obama administration requested. Meanwhile, contrary to the suggestion of the DCCC ad, there never was a specific vote on funding to prevent Ebola.

There’s no doubt that spending has been cut, or at least failed to keep pace with inflation, but the fingerprints of both parties are on the knives. This blame game earns Four Pinocchios.

As you might imagine, conservatives have greeted this fact check as welcome news:

Washington Post fact checker notes it was the Obama WH, not Republicans, that proposed cuts to NIH's budget. http://t.co/Zh9eITX6yU

— Brian Walsh (@brianjameswalsh) October 15, 2014

@brianjameswalsh @GlennKesslerWP So WH strategy for Ebola: blame Rs in lieu of leading, fixing the problem.

— George Canty (@grcanty) October 15, 2014

WaPo Fact Checker: President George W. Bush, a Republican, is responsible for significantly boosting NIH’s funding http://t.co/IqjRHjAdCt

— S2 (@StewSays) October 15, 2014

Libs never let facts get in the way of hysterical rhetoric=> Absurd claim Repubs to blame for cuts to Ebola research http://t.co/TUKnvd749E

— L. North (@LadyLNorth) October 15, 2014

@DanaPerino @GlennKesslerWP that is the most low down vicious lie I've ever heard. Whoever came up with that has no morals sorry if believed

— russell jones (@rwjones61) October 15, 2014

And we like this idea:

@DanaPerino @GlennKesslerWP Might think of adding a 5th Pinocchio level just for those who truly deserve whacko level comments.

— John Kerber (@johnkiowa) October 15, 2014

Related:

Here is Paul Begala doubling down on desperate Ebola-blaming lies by blaming Bush. No, seriously

How much does Dem desperation reek? Paul Begala parrots pitiful ‘Ebola budget cuts’ spin; Gets schooled

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2014/10/15/liars-the-wapost-gives-dems-4-pinocchios-for-saying-the-gop-cut-ebola-funding/

Ebola response is improving

World Health Organization Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said “the response is definitely getting better, there has been a step change over the last four to eight weeks in the response.”
Speaking today (4 Aug) to reporters in Geneva, Aylward stressed “we have gone… http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/ebola-response-is-improving/ #Publichealth, #Ebola

Frontier Airlines Ebola plane remains out of service in Denver

Frontier Airlines Ebola plane remains out of service in Denver
The Frontier Airlines plane on which Ebola patient Amber Joy Vinson flew aboard Oct.13 remains out of service in Denver. The plane was flown without passengers to Denver International Airport on Wed., Oct. 15 and was taken to a hangar. The plane, an …
Read more on The Denver Post

[wprebay kw=”denver” num=”9″ ebcat=”-1″]

Colorado prepares for Ebola outbreak

Colorado prepares for Ebola outbreak
Colorado has no cases of Ebola, but CDPHE is following Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to prepare for the possibility. CDC works with partners at all ports of entry into the United States to help prevent infectious diseases from …
Read more on North Denver News