For you ebola fans--CNN breaking news:

[flex]

"Dallas nurse Nina Pham has been declared free of the Ebola virus, the National Institutes of Health said today. The NIH says it will hold a briefing at 11:30 a.m. ET about her discharge from an NIH facility where she'd been treated in Bethesda, Maryland.



Pham and nurse Amber Vinson contracted the virus while treating Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Duncan died October 8, becoming the first person to die of Ebola in the United States.



Vinson has been declared Ebola-free but remains hospitalized at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta."

[eb777888]

Oh, that's great.

[iammalcolmx]

Fantastic!!!

[revolution]

This is great news!

[Kristinmo]

That is great news! I did LOL at Ebola fans.

[tinybride]

Great news!

[isabel]

Lol at Ebola fans.

I had heard she was Ebola free on NPR, I think. Great news.

[lilafowler]

Good!

[jlt19]

Wow, so both of them are good?! That's amazing. I assume it's just a lot easier to treat if it's caught early?

[MixedBerryJam]

My coworker is all up in arms over New York ... Nobody from that part of the world should be let into the country, period, until the 21-day incubation period is over. You know, we could just put them on a cruise ship. I hope the stupid is not contagious!

[Mrs.Rad888]

Oct 24, 2014 10:52:17 GMT -5 MixedBerryJam said:

My coworker is all up in arms over New York ... Nobody from that part of the world should be let into the country, period, until the 21-day incubation period is over. You know, we could just put them on a cruise ship. I hope the stupid is not contagious!

The stupid is much more contagious than Ebola. I've been having this same argument since Duncan died in the hospital, mostly regarding the workers who contracted it while helping with the outbreak in Africa. "Why were those people allowed back in this country? They should just have been treated over there!" When I point out that this was their HOME, and they should be allowed to come home and get treated, I just get the head shakes. This from someone who refuses to get a flu shot, because "The flu won't kill me like Ebola will." Actually, it can. 

[audry80]

Any update on her dog?

[cb4409]

i know nothing about medicine, but i think i read that they had used a blood transfusion from one of the first doctors that was treated in the US to treat these nurses... now can they also give blood transfusions in the future if needed? just wondering if this will help others have a better chance of survival in the US.

[Deleted]

I am a little surprised they don't have some sort of quarantine for physicians working directly with patients before they travel.

Glad to hear the nurse is doing better.

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 12:53:17 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I am a little surprised they don't have some sort of quarantine for physicians working directly with patients before they travel.

Glad to hear the nurse is doing better.

You mean to stay in the country they're working in for 21 days before coming back to the US?

Resources are obviously limited in those countries. So if they were to be sick they'd be taking away care from someone else and obviously the medical system is different there, so I think care is more appropriate for american citizens here in the US. 

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 12:58:52 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Oct 24, 2014 12:53:17 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I am a little surprised they don't have some sort of quarantine for physicians working directly with patients before they travel.

Glad to hear the nurse is doing better.

You mean to stay in the country they're working in for 21 days before coming back to the US?

Resources are obviously limited in those countries. So if they were to be sick they'd be taking away care from someone else and obviously the medical system is different there, so I think care is more appropriate for american citizens here in the US. 

I think it's fine if people are transported here for care--that seems to have worked well.

I guess it's the not knowing? like they would hang out until it's clear they are definitely healthy or they need special transport back to the US.

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 13:02:27 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

Oct 24, 2014 12:58:52 GMT -5 @wandering said:

You mean to stay in the country they're working in for 21 days before coming back to the US?

Resources are obviously limited in those countries. So if they were to be sick they'd be taking away care from someone else and obviously the medical system is different there, so I think care is more appropriate for american citizens here in the US. 

I think it's fine if people are transported here for care--that seems to have worked well.

I guess it's the not knowing? like they would hang out until it's clear they are definitely healthy or they need special transport back to the US.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Why would you hang out in a country with ebola increasing your risks of contracting it. Why wouldn't you come home and monitor yourself so that you can IMMEDIATELY receive adequate treatment if need be. 

And special transport back to the US isn't exactly free or cheap. Why would anyone want to go through that willingly? An ambulance ride from your house to a hospital is much cheaper. 

All of this American citizens shouldn't be let back in to their country is really bothering me. 

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 13:05:11 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Oct 24, 2014 13:02:27 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

I think it's fine if people are transported here for care--that seems to have worked well.

I guess it's the not knowing? like they would hang out until it's clear they are definitely healthy or they need special transport back to the US.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Why would you hang out in a country with ebola increasing your risks of contracting it. Why wouldn't you come home and monitor yourself so that you can IMMEDIATELY receive adequate treatment if need be. 

And special transport back to the US isn't exactly free or cheap. Why would anyone want to go through that willingly? An ambulance ride from your house to a hospital is much cheaper. 

All of this American citizens shouldn't be let back in to their country is really bothering me. 

I am definitely not trying to say they shouldn't be able to come home.

Someone riding on a commercial jet who has definitely been exposed to Ebola sounds unsafe. If they are flying on private flights back, that also is not a problem to me personally. Especially if they can then hang out at home for the rest of the 21 days.

[Deleted]

Oct 24, 2014 13:58:08 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

Oct 24, 2014 13:05:11 GMT -5 @wandering said:

I'm not sure what you mean.

Why would you hang out in a country with ebola increasing your risks of contracting it. Why wouldn't you come home and monitor yourself so that you can IMMEDIATELY receive adequate treatment if need be. 

And special transport back to the US isn't exactly free or cheap. Why would anyone want to go through that willingly? An ambulance ride from your house to a hospital is much cheaper. 

All of this American citizens shouldn't be let back in to their country is really bothering me. 

I am definitely not trying to say they shouldn't be able to come home.

Someone riding on a commercial jet who has definitely been exposed to Ebola sounds unsafe. If they are flying on private flights back, that also is not a problem to me personally. Especially if they can then hang out at home for the rest of the 21 days.

They are monitoring people at multiple points when leaving Ebola affected countries. If they have signs and symptoms of Ebola, they won't fly. If they don't have signs and symptoms they are safe to fly and are no more dangerous than any other passenger.

[MixedBerryJam]

Oct 24, 2014 13:58:08 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

Oct 24, 2014 13:05:11 GMT -5 @wandering said:

...

I am definitely not trying to say they shouldn't be able to come home.

Someone riding on a commercial jet who has definitely been exposed to Ebola sounds unsafe. If they are flying on private flights back, that also is not a problem to me personally. Especially if they can then hang out at home for the rest of the 21 days.

It may sound unsafe, but please understand that it actually is NOT unsafe, unless and until the medical professional or support person was displaying actual symptoms, in which case they wouldnt have been allowed on the plane in the first place.

ETA jinx, @wandering!

[Deleted]

I can be talked into agreeing that we should not let people who live in West Africa into America unless they are willing to be quarantined -- it is at least a position about which reasonable minds can disagree -- but the idea that America can detain a citizen, and force him into quarantine when exhibiting no symptoms, is outrageous.

And, of course, it is the people who are obsessed with the government trampling on their liberty and their 2nd amendment rights who are screaming the loudest for us to detain, or close borders to, anyone who has been in Africa. And the same group that is obsessed with biblical prohibitions against being gay that is the most willing to shut out people who are ministering to the ill. If Jesus tried to come to America they certainly would not let him after all that leper contact. God I hate social conservatives.

[MixedBerryJam]

Oct 24, 2014 14:46:38 GMT -5 elle said:

I can be talked into agreeing that we should not let people who live in West Africa into America unless they are willing to be quarantined -- it is at least a position about which reasonable minds can disagree -- but the idea that America can detain a citizen, and force him into quarantine when exhibiting no symptoms, is outrageous.

And, of course, it is the people who are obsessed with the government trampling on their liberty and their 2nd amendment rights who are screaming the loudest for us to detain, or close borders to, anyone who has been in Africa. And the same group that is obsessed with biblical prohibitions against being gay that is the most willing to shut out people who are ministering to the ill. If Jesus tried to come to America they certainly would not let him after all that leper contact. God I hate social conservatives.

This is the thing that pisses me right the hell off. Rights have limations, or they don't. Which is it?