CDC issued a new poster Friday night October 24, which admits Ebola may in fact be airborne.
But CDC says it doesn't travel farther than 3 feet. Well, at least CDC is starting to move the narrative. Maybe tomorrow it will be 5 feet. Then 10. Maybe next month they will tell us why all the victims' possessions are being incinerated and apartments fumigated. (This article could explain it.)
Just remember: historically, Ebola spread fast in healthcare facilities. Even CDC agrees: "EVD (Ebola Virus Disease) is highly transmissible in healthcare setting especially with severely ill patients and patients who have died. "
UPDATE Oct. 28: Thanks to Washington's Blog for this piece about a study showing that particles expelled during coughing may travel 20 feet. And see this piece, which I published on my blog earlier, that reviews in great detail the subject of spread by airborne droplet nuclei. Finally, I just discovered this 4 week old piece from Washington's blog quoting many experts on aerosol transmissibility.
UPDATE Oct 28: Today's NY Times acknowledges you can potentially get Ebola from a toilet (or bathroom).
UPDATE Oct 30: CDC has removed the poster! The NY Post wrote before and after stories about the poster.
UPDATE Oct 31: Huffington Post discusses CDC's new method of splitting aerosol hairs.
UPDATE Oct 31: There is a new CDC poster, which extends the range for infectious droplet nuclei to 6 feet, but continues to be somewhat ambiguous. (Hey, didn't I predict CDC was going to extend the droplet distance?) (I have updated the link to a screen shot as this 2nd poster was taken down, too.)
UPDATE Nov 2: CDC changed the poster again! They removed the one that said droplets can spread 6 feet. The doorknob is gone. The 3d version attempts to distinguish between spread by large droplets and airborne spread, failing to acknowledge that droplets vary in size and in ability to remain airborne, while Ebola virus may remain viable for prolonged periods (hours, days and even weeks) under ideal conditions. Here is the real deal on droplets.
Finally.... some truth. We are waiting for more!
ReplyDeleteThis issue has bothered me from the start. As recently as last week a high-ranking authority virtually sneered at the "hysterical" stupidity of people who once thought that Ebola could be transmitted by a sneeze! His attitude was that, now that we all know better, it's time to stop worrying about airline and airport contact with infected travelers, or any other close public contact. Who's the stupid one? Well, apparently many of our highest government and agency officials and spokespersons! Recent studies showing how surprisingly far saliva and mucous droplets can travel from a simple sneeze was the first thing I thought of. Why wasn't it THEIR first thought? We are either being led by some of the stupidest and most thoughtless people on earth, or some of the most dishonest, and all of this during a major public health crisis. Since these spokespersons are obviously not stupid, YOU tell ME where their ethical standards lie.
ReplyDeleteThe CDC poster you refer to has been taken down from their site. Got a copy?
ReplyDeleteArchive of the CDC PDFs before they was taken down:
ReplyDeleteOriginal:
https://web.archive.org/web/20141025042855/http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdf
Revised on Oct 27th:
https://web.archive.org/web/20141029165151/http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/pdf/infections-spread-by-air-or-droplets.pdf
The archived version is gone now too...just like the cache if Kaci Hickox's LinedIn profile. :-/
ReplyDeleteCan someone please address why the cdc and other government officials including the president keep trying to reassure the public that ebola is not spread the same way as the flu because it's not airborne? The flu is not airborne either it is spread by droplets, patients with the flu are on droplet precautions not airborne!!!! If the flu was airborne medical staff would be wearing an n95 mask and the patients would be in neg pressure rooms. They try to reassure the public by misleading them about what airborne actually means. If both can be spread by droplets then stop saying it's different than the flu. The difference is ebola is not a respiratory virus so sneezing and coughing are not symptoms but that doesn't mean the patients don't ever sneeze or cough does it?
ReplyDeletehere is an article with the original images...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.prisonplanet.com/cdc-ebola-spreads-like-flu.html
ReplyDeleteThey changed it again but heres a screenshot I found with the 6 feet
https://tomfernandez28.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/screen-shot-2014-10-31-at-4-51-12-pm.png