tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post7202349677950636763..comments2024-03-26T09:49:07.212-07:00Comments on The Scratching Post: Ebola Is About RaceK T Cathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10259428595745509790noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-47566016752783984482014-10-18T08:26:39.147-07:002014-10-18T08:26:39.147-07:00One thing we might do is stop expediting visas and...One thing we might do is <a href="http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/ebola-outbreak-related-immigration-relief-measures-nationals-guinea-liberia-and-sierra-leone-currently-united-states" rel="nofollow"><b>stop expediting visas</b> and waiving visa fees for Guineans, Sierra Leonians, and Liberians</a>.<br /><br />Of course, we mustn't close the borders because we absolutely must make the perfect the enemy of the good and some guys just might manage to sneak through. No oranges from Mexico, though! Those suckers are <i>deadly</i>.Trigger Warninghttp://triggerwarnings.net/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-31118903733732223222014-10-17T13:37:25.786-07:002014-10-17T13:37:25.786-07:00There are two nurses who are facing literal bloody...There are two nurses who are facing literal bloody death because those in power were <i>stupid</i> enough to believe that nobody would lie about ebola exposure when coming from an epidemic soaked area, and there are probably going to be more.Foxfierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10161683096247890834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-39870207305409098722014-10-17T13:35:27.042-07:002014-10-17T13:35:27.042-07:00Maybe something like "We will not allow any f...Maybe something like "We will not allow any flight that has someone with a (listed infected country) to unload their passengers, and those airlines that are found to have done so will be unwelcome until the epidemic is controlled."<br /><br />Dying while bleeding from your eyeballs tends to have an impact on economic activity as well.<br /><br />It won't solve the issue of those entering the country illegally, but the lock on my door doesn't stop someone who's willing to bust a window. Doesn't mean it's not a vital part of home defense. Foxfierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10161683096247890834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-77324808593840918482014-10-17T11:20:50.101-07:002014-10-17T11:20:50.101-07:00Re: enforcing a quarantine in Africa. Liberia is 4...Re: enforcing a quarantine in Africa. Liberia is 4M people in 43,000 square miles. If we can't control our own border, how in the world will you control one that size under those conditions thousands of miles away?K T Cathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10259428595745509790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-21260810902584374342014-10-17T11:17:27.216-07:002014-10-17T11:17:27.216-07:001. Current traveler databases are designed to dete...1. Current traveler databases are designed to detect people coming from trouble spots. In the past, it was terrorism hotbeds. A small change in the queries and you could find the ones coming in from infected countries.<br /><br />2. Like I care. If the thing breaks out in the US, the whole world is hosed to a degree no one is contemplating in print. Imagine what happens to the markets when we decide we have to quarantine New Orleans. Look at shipping stats for the Mississippi river and think about what economic impact that would have.<br /><br />Yes, closing borders is problematic. So is protecting your house. Just because basic precautions aren't going to stop the gang from Oceans 11 from breaking in, it doesn't mean you leave your doors unlocked and your car keys on a hook outside your house.K T Cathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10259428595745509790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22301740.post-90360586338514755192014-10-17T09:34:38.934-07:002014-10-17T09:34:38.934-07:00While "cutting off flights from West Africa&q...While "cutting off flights from West Africa" sounds simple enough, there are two enormous problems with it:<br /><br />1) Most people coming to the US from West Africa evidently don't fly direct. They fly up to Europe and transfer there (the man who originally carried ebola from Liberia to Dallas came by way of Brussels). So, cutting off travel from West Africa basically means either cutting off flights from Europe (an enormously bigger undertaking), or getting the Europeans to cut off the flights from Africa.<br /><br />2. Quarantines are hugely expensive economy-killers. Basically, whoever gets quarantined, their economy stops dead. The bigger the area you quarantine, the bigger the economic hit. So, you need to balance fears of infection spreading against how much of the world economy you are willing to crash.<br /><br />And, as the person you quoted was pointing out, closing our *own* border gets progressively more problematic as the disease takes hold in more and closer places. The important consideration in a quarantine isn't so much keeping other people from getting into our country, as in keeping them from getting out of the quarantined area of theirs. <br /><br />I know you are not keen on the idea of sending the military into West Africa, but first off, who is better at building field hospitals than the military? And second, if we are going to enforce a quarantine, it will be way more effective to enforce it on that end than on this end.<br /><br /><br />tim eiselehttp://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.comnoreply@blogger.com