Disaster Risk Reduction

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Chuck Hagel Approves 21-Day Ebola Quarantine For Troops

Wed, 2014-10-29 12:53 — mike kraft

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel briefs reporters at the Pentagon, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014, on the military health care system. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

ASSOCIATED PRESS Oct. 29, 2014
By Robert Burns

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Wednesday approved a recommendation by military leaders that all U.S. troops returning from Ebola response missions in West Africa be kept in supervised isolation for 21 days.

The move goes beyond precautions recommended by the Obama administration for civilians, although President Barack Obama has made clear he feels the military's situation is different from that of civilians, in part because troops are not in West Africa by choice.

In explaining his decision, Hagel noted that the military has more people in Africa helping with the Ebola effort than any other segment of the U.S. government.

"This is also a policy that was discussed in great detail by the communities, by the families of our military men and women, and they very much wanted a safety valve on this," he said at a public forum in Washington.

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Mobile-phone records are an invaluable tool to combat Ebola. They should be made available to researchers

Sun, 2014-10-26 12:21 — mike kraft

THE ECONOMIST Oct. 25, 2014

With at least 4,500 people dead, public-health authorities in west Africa and worldwide are struggling to contain Ebola. Borders have been closed, air passengers screened, schools suspended. But a promising tool for epidemiologists lies unused: mobile cell phone data.

When people make mobile-phone calls, the network generates a call data record (CDR) containing such information as the phone numbers of the caller and receiver, the time of the call and the tower that handled it—which gives a rough indication of the device’s location. This information provides researchers with an insight into mobility patterns...

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Technology

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http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/msf-protocols-staff-returning-ebola-affected-countries

MSF Protocols for Staff Returning from Ebola-Affected Countries

Fri, 2014-10-24 17:30 — mike kraft

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS/MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERE OCT. 23, 2014

Doctors without Borders (MSF) describes its specific guidelines and protocols for staff members returning from Ebola assignments. The guidlines were posted following the hospitalization of Dr. Craig Smith, one of its workers, in New York City yesterday.

See full description

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U.S. considering quarantine for returning Ebola health workers: CDC

Fri, 2014-10-24 16:34 — mike kraft

REUTERS OCT. 24, 2014

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering quarantining healthcare workers returning to the United States from the Ebola hot zone of West Africa, after a New York doctor who treated Ebola patients there tested positive for the virus.

Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Reuters on Friday that quarantine is among a number of options being discussed by officials from across the administration.

Staff of the emergency medical services in France (SAMU) wear Ebola virus protection outfits during a press presentation at the Necker Hospital in Paris, October 24, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

"There are a number of options being discussed pertaining to the monitoring and mobility of healthcare workers who are returning to the United States from affected countries," Skinner said.

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Structural Adaptivity, Rebalancing by Watersheds - Part II

Thu, 2014-10-23 19:32 — WDS1200-Columbus

Here is the second part of my Rebalancing by Watersheds Exercise. I presented the background work recently in my Part I post. Part II contains a Concept Plan Map and a discussion of the more particular information and data that led me to the Plan.

Both Parts I and Part II are only a condensed version of the full text I prepared. Within the portions I left out for this version is a considerable amount of technical information that some readers may want to see. I will provide more of it upon request.

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Structural Adaptivity, Rebalancing by Watersheds - Part I

Wed, 2014-10-22 16:57 — WDS1200-Columbus

One of the applications of structural adaptivity that I have presented is re-balancing our nation by major watersheds. The benefits would be two-fold: (1) growing our nation into urban regions where each would have resilient economic and adaptivity capacities; and (2) tying the regions to ample sources of fresh water by linking them to regional U.S. watersheds.

Because it would be such a large departure from recent trends and because I could discover no literature showing its possibility or desirability, I sought to perform an exercise to demonstrate its possibility. In doing this, I am setting aside my own considerable shortcomings. I am assuming that criticism of my arrogance in attempting such an exercise is less important than taking a step in a much-needed new direction.

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Ebola vaccine trials could start in Africa in January

Tue, 2014-10-21 18:21 — mike kraft

UPDATE: Drugmakers to join forces to make millions of Ebola vaccine doses

REUTERS Oct 22, 2014

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON -- Leading drugmakers plan to work together to speed up the development of an Ebola vaccine and hope to produce millions of doses for use next year.

U.S. firm Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that it aims to produce at least 1 million doses of its two-step vaccine next year and has already discussed collaboration with Britain's GlaxoSmithKline, which is working on a rival vaccine.

The economics of an Ebola vaccine are still unclear but drug companies with an eye on their reputations are under pressure to respond to the major international health crisis now ravaging one of the poorest corners of Africa.

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DHS requires West Africa travelers to arrive at five airports

Tue, 2014-10-21 14:55 — mike kraft

USA TODAY Oct. 21, 2914By Bart Jansen

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday that all travelers from Ebola outbreak countries in West Africa will be funneled through one of five U.S. airports with enhanced screening starting Wednesday.

(Photo: Melissa Maraj, AP)

Customs and Border Protection within the department began enhanced screening — checking the traveler's temperature and asking about possible exposure to Ebola — at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Oct. 11.

Enhanced screening for travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea was expanded Oct. 16 to Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare, New Jersey's Newark and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson international airports.

Those airports were supposed to screen 94% of the average 150 people per day arriving from the three countries. But lawmakers from other states asked for enhanced screening at their airports, too.

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CDC releases revised Ebola gear guidelines

Mon, 2014-10-20 20:22 — mike kraft

UPDATED WITH MORE DETAILS

WASHINGTON POST Oct. 20, 2014

During a media briefing late Monday, CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the updated guidelines give a greater margin of safety to health-care workers. They are modeled closely on those used by Doctors Without Borders, the aid group that has worked most extensively in West Africa... The guidance also reflects the consensus of specialists at Emory University Hospital, Nebraska Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health, which are currently treating Ebola patients.

UCLA Health System doctors and staff participate in a preparedness exercise on diagnosing and treating patients with Ebola virus symptoms. On Oct. 20, the CDC tightened protocols for health-care workers explicitly recommending that no skin be exposed. (Reed Hutchinson/AP)

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