Breaking: Ebola May Have Found Its Way to Washington, D.C.

Many people are fed up with the US government’s handling of the Ebola situation. President Ebola Obama has refused to implement a travel ban from West African countries that have known cases of Ebola. People are understandably concerned about that.

Some have wished for (jokingly or not) the deadly virus to find its way to DC.

They may have gotten their wish:

The Pentagon is now the latest place to suffer from an Ebola scare.

Around 9:10 a.m., a woman began vomiting in the Pentagon parking lot while on a bus tour, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson. The woman indicated she has recently traveled to Africa.

The Arlington County Fire Department was called to the scene. The woman has been transported to Inova Fairfax Hospital. (source)

Uh oh.

“Out of an abundance of caution and to allow the investigation to proceed, pedestrian and vehicular traffic around the Pentagon South Parking lot’s lanes 7-23 will remain restricted until further notice,” Henderson says.

The bus the woman was on then traveled to Capitol Hill. The bus was stopped on Virginia Avenue and the other passengers and the driver were being isolated on a second bus. Virginia Avenue is closed down while officials investigate.

Am I the only one who is tired of hearing “out of an abundance of caution” in nearly every mainstream news report about a possible Ebola case? Is that some kind of programming? I just did an internet search using the term “Ebola out of an abundance of caution”. About 420,000 results were returned.

Same story, another news source:

A hazmat team was called to the Pentagon Friday morning due to an Ebola scare. Passengers aboard a chartered bus carrying members of the military and others related to them tell FOX 5 a woman they didn’t know boarded the bus, went to the back and went in the bathroom. That woman was apparently vomiting, and told authorities she recently traveled to Africa.

Arlington County’s hazmat team was called out in an abundance of caution. Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Crosson says around 9:10 a.m., Pentagon police officers identified a woman in the south parking lot who was sick and vomiting. Arlington County fire crews were called. The woman told authorities she had just recently visited Africa, so out of an abundance of caution, all pedestrian and vehicular traffic was suspended around the south parking lot. (source)

Twice in one news report. Heck, in one paragraph.

Oh, wait – correction: THREE times in one news report:

Crosson says out of an abundance of caution and while the investigation is underway, lanes 7-23 of the south parking lot will remain closed to pedestrians and vehicles until further notice. The Corridor 2 entrance to the Pentagon is also closed.

This is odd, too:

The passengers told FOX 5 they were headed to a change of command ceremony at Barracks Row, and that the woman was not part of their group. Authorities say the bus driver didn’t know about the woman’s claims that she had been to Africa recently, and he proceeded with his route after she got off.  The bus was stopped after the driver was notified by emergency officials of the Ebola concern.

From the first paragraph of the same article:

Passengers aboard a chartered bus carrying members of the military and others related to them tell FOX 5 a woman they didn’t know boarded the bus, went to the back and went in the bathroom. That woman was apparently vomiting, and told authorities she recently traveled to Africa.

It sounds like this was some kind of private tour. None of the other passengers knew the woman who became ill on the bus? What was she doing on there?

Which authorities did she tell she had recently been to Africa? What part of Africa? It’s a huge continent, after all.

Doesn’t this sound like she got on the bus, marched right back to the restroom, and got sick? She reportedly vomited in the parking lot too. Why was she on that bus?

Is all of this odd, or is it just me?

But hey – no worries. Surely in a few hours the hospital will declare the woman “Ebola free” after a preliminary test comes back negative.

Speaking of Ebola testing, the WHO posted this on their website:

WHO is alarmed by media reports of suspected Ebola cases imported into new countries that are said, by government officials or ministries of health, to be discarded as “negative” within hours after the suspected case enters the country.

Such rapid determination of infection status is impossible, casting grave doubts on some of the official information that is being communicated to the public and the media.

Here are Ebola testing guidelines from the WHO (emphasis mine):

• For early detection of Ebola virus in suspected or probable cases, detection of viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) or viral antigen are the recommended tests.

• Laboratory-confirmed cases must test positive for the presence of the Ebola virus, either by detection of viral RNA by RT-PCR, and/or by detection of Ebola antigen by a specific Antigen detection test, and/or by detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies directed against Ebola.

• Two negative RT-PCR test results, at least 48 hours apart, are required for a clinically asymptomatic patient to be discharged from hospital, or for a suspected Ebola case to be discarded as testing negative for the virus.

• Laboratory results should be communicated to WHO as quickly as possible, in addition to reporting under the requirements and within the timelines set out in the International Health Regulations, which are administered by WHO.

The woman is in isolation while confirmation of her travel history and medical condition are being conducted. Health departments in the area are trying locate individuals who may have had contact with her.

More on this story as it develops…

Resources

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