Now we know what happens when we elect spite and ignorance to Congress and beyond.
If you had to guess how many upper echelon, budget-busting hospital beds were open for infectious disease treatment across the country, would it be fairly accurate given how much we have learned about Ebola these last weeks? I’d have estimated at least two or three hundred beds/high tech suites and appropriate staff, nationally.
Damn. I’d have been off by a heart-stopping amount, as Rachel Maddow informed us this week … there are, in fact, a total of ten such beds. And four are presently occupied by the Ebola victims now in care. As the death toll heads toward 4.7K lives lost to the disease in western Africa.
Ten beds. Tell me the penny-squeezing Regressive Right didn’t de-fund and de-regulate us right into this state of national unpreparedness.
This has nothing to do with the fear-mongering and panic fomenting Fvx Nation has cranked up to an ear bleeding level. This is reality.
People are dying every hour already in West Africa … we fiddle at each other and turn our heads rather than hear of their obscene need for body bags.
The GOP and Lipton Brigade are stubbornly loathe to fund anything but the military. I have heard no audible mention of military hospitals or medical staff hopping aboard the mission domestically, but this pop-up medical scare has opened the curtain on just how deeply the Conservative contempt of science and security nets has endangered American citizens.
Take it away Rachel. Link here for the video. See you on the other side.
The calming voice of Maddow always adds a measure of sanity.
You would think there would be a stream of the largest magical autoclaves the country can muster on their way to the four hospitals on the front lines by now. Instead, the only news outlet besides Maddow who seem interested in the critical story is Mashable. Here’s an excerpt and a ‘good on them’.
They were designed to treat patients with some of the most dangerous pathogens on the planet. These include Ebola virus disease and other viral hemorrhagic fevers, as well as SARS, smallpox, tularemia, plague and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.
IMAGE- NATI HARNIK:ASSOCIATED PRESS
One of the most alarming quotes from the Mashable piece had to be the following plot line. [This startling information wasn’t hard to find, it was disclosed in the Hill hearings and Right Wing Congressional posturings that took place earlier Thursday.]
Democrat Henry Waxman was one of a handful to see the significance of the bed, trained staff, equipment, and treatment shortage of this state of unpreparedness, as reported by Mashable as well.
“We need to commit adequate funding to public health infrastructure. Based on what we know, it appears Texas Presbyterian would have not met those standards,” said Rep. Henry Waxman, Democrat of California. “Though in fairness I suspect that many hospitals across the country would not be prepared to respond.”
The pinch-purse Republicans are only interested in Miracle Travel Bans.No inclination to bump funding to the medical facilities expected to treat those who sneak in … just further excoriation of President Obama because he didn’t call some airlines.
President Obama is taking action, which is now rumored to be headed to appointing a so-called Ebola Czar, who will hopefully find five open beds in the country a problem.
It’s high time fools like Joe Schmoe Scarborough, who continue to call for ‘answers’ and more drama (like the painful hysteria going on at Fvx Nation) were silenced. Silenced by competence and preparedness.
Which cost money, gravitas and copious quantities of common sense. Fork it over, miserly Republicans.
The Uncompassionate Conservatives want to be probing our vaginas regularly, and will additionally spend any amount of cash to put their hands and cameras up our skirts … all else is ‘wasteful liberal spending’.
There is plenty of dirt road between ‘panic’ and alert capability, and by the signs, we had best be paving it.
17 days until midterms!!
And someone had better check on Fvx Nation rockstar Glenn Beck, we liberals haven’t seen him weep for a while, and he’s clearly had Ebola since 1989. He’s probably off burying the gold the GOP pried out of the public health safety infrastructure. [Mitt Romney suddenly wouldn’t return his calls.]
