THE CDC AND THE THREE STOOGES COMPARISON

OK.

I know the memes are out there.

But......

They just had one job.

One.

As far as I'm concerned; they blew it. I usually don't write political criticisms but this one I just couldn't pass up. For the record, I'm pretty independent. On social issues I lean more toward the left. On fiscal issues I'm definitely more toward the right.

Having said that.

There is no right or left where public health is concerned. 

These poor nurses put their lives on the line to care for Mr. Duncan. I don't care what he knew or when. That's a policy issue that I'm not writing about at this time. From what I've read it was a total circle jerk in that hospital. First, let's blame the overworked ER doctor that obviously didn't read the CDC bulletin hidden somewhere in a break room that he used to catch an hours worth of sleep. 

Then to hear the CDC blame poor Nurse 1 and Nurse 2. For once I had to appreciate the congressional hearings. They made them sound like Dr. Seuss' Thing one and Thing two. The senator from Missouri was right.

Let's show them a little respect. Who knows what kind of chaos reigned in that hospital. If the media is to be believed it sounded terrible. Hazardous waste littered all over the place? Sending blood samples through the pneumatic tube? 

I have some questions.

With the type of infectious agent that Ebola seems to be why wasn't that apartment stripped of all hazardous material immediately. Why was the vomit scrubbed days later? Why wasn't he isolated at the mere mention of Ebola for the sake of caution? Ms. Pham and Dr. Wendy Chung were at his bedside about three hours before the tests confirmed Ebola. Now, as much as I admire her being on the front lines, that was ludicrous. Why was food delivered to the apartment by someone not even wearing a mask?

Then, watching the congressional hearings, my mouth just dropped open. My mind is just spinning. Speaking of spinning, that's what I watched. You tell me that the CDC can effectively monitor these people that come into the country from affected regions. Again, I'm not in panic mode but they can't do the one job they had right and you tell me they can keep this under control? He couldn't even say for certain that Ms. Vinson was told she could fly. All I heard was a prepared statement being read that sounded like legal was standing over their shoulder prompting them what to say.

Again, who's on first?

Yes, hospitals are under state control but a health crisis such as Ebola demands certain practices. One of them should have been that people from the CDC should have gotten off their ass and been at the hospital to make sure they were equipped with proper protective gear and shown how to properly disrobe from that gear so that they couldn't be exposed to any contaminant.

Is it any wonder that the public has no faith in what they're telling us? I'm not seeing Ebola around every corner but, at least, tell us the truth. I hate bureaucratic spin. Let's blame everyone else. It was their fault. They did something wrong. If that was the case....where the hell were they? Issuing emails and faxes??? Cmon.......

I hate cover your ass protocol.

And that's what I saw at the hearings.

God Bless Ms. Pham and Ms. Vinson.

That's all I can say.

I just pray that no one else gets caught up in this storm.

But, I doubt it.

I think more will come.