5 ms·

Wait until it gets into the US in a marginal part of society. Given we have no universal health care, it's likely to spread and evolve faster than we can stop i

Wait until it gets into the US in a marginal part of society. Given we have no universal health care, it's likely to spread and evolve faster than we can stop it. The person in Dallas could have infected the homeless person in the same ambulance who subsequently wandered off. Imagine an illegal person catching it and fearing discovery tries to avoid a hospital, only to infect those they are sharing a tiny room with.

JshWright 7y ago
What is an illegal person...?
- danijelb 7y ago
  It's a person who illegally crossed the border with a goal to live in a country where they can't live legally
  - coldcode 7y ago
    And are now intimidated to hide from every authority.
    - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
      Because they broke the laws, and are subject to penalty. This is a fundamental basis of our society. If you don’t like that, change the law, but don’t forgive that some people just willingly break it (even if they have good reason). Selective enforcement of the law is tyranny.
  - JshWright 7y ago
    That doesn't make the _person_ illegal though. People do illegal things all the time. An hour ago I was driving above the speed limit. Am I now an "illegal person"?
    - hombre_fatal 7y ago
      Simply refer to the definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegal https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegal > a person who enters or lives in a country without the documentation required for legal entry or residence
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
maxerickson 7y ago
You know we have a pretty extensive public health infrastructure in the US? And lots and lots of money and resources? Combine those things and the primary method of controlling a disease like Ebola is pretty straightforward, you have teams of people find and isolate every single person that had potential exposure to a known infectee. That you can trace from each known infectee is an important part of it, you don't have to discover the exact chain of infection to achieve a decent level of containment.
tick_tock_tick 7y ago
We didn't have universal healthcare when we stamped out polio, smallpox, or yellow fever. I don't know why you'd think it would stop us now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_from_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_fr...
- dougabug 7y ago
  We had free vaccination of children at school, and opting out wasn’t common behavior. Also, the population was smaller and healthcare significantly cheaper.
- afarrell 7y ago
  We stamped those diseases out after thousands had contracted them.
- phs318u 7y ago
  Because at that time people didn’t distrust medical authorities like they do now (anti-vaxxers among others), and didn’t fear (as much) the other consequences of coming into contact with government agencies (incarceration/deportation).
  - alfromspace 7y ago
    Oh goodness. Citation needed. And I'm curious whether you happen to be independently against deportation and incarceration. I suppose we'd better open the borders and prisons just to prevent disease, right? Or maybe there's a broader ideology at play here.
    - ziddoap 7y ago
      >"I suppose we'd better open the borders and prisons just to prevent disease, right?" That's one way to take something that no one is arguing for and turn it up to 11. At least try to argue in good faith. Edit: Found a source for you regarding trust in healthcare, for what it's worth. >A 2015 Pew study [...] We as a country have less faith in the medical system than we once did — trust was at 80 percent in 1973, and in 2016 it is 39 percent."[1] [1]https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-dont-trust-their-institutions-anymore/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-dont-trust-th...
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

JshWright 7y ago

What is an illegal person...?

danijelb 7y ago
It's a person who illegally crossed the border with a goal to live in a country where they can't live legally
- coldcode 7y ago
  And are now intimidated to hide from every authority.
  - SlowRobotAhead 7y ago
    Because they broke the laws, and are subject to penalty. This is a fundamental basis of our society. If you don’t like that, change the law, but don’t forgive that some people just willingly break it (even if they have good reason). Selective enforcement of the law is tyranny.
- JshWright 7y ago
  That doesn't make the _person_ illegal though. People do illegal things all the time. An hour ago I was driving above the speed limit. Am I now an "illegal person"?
  - hombre_fatal 7y ago
    Simply refer to the definition: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegal https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illegal > a person who enters or lives in a country without the documentation required for legal entry or residence
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

maxerickson 7y ago

You know we have a pretty extensive public health infrastructure in the US? And lots and lots of money and resources? Combine those things and the primary method of controlling a disease like Ebola is pretty straightforward, you have teams of people find and isolate every single person that had potential exposure to a known infectee. That you can trace from each known infectee is an important part of it, you don't have to discover the exact chain of infection to achieve a decent level of containment.

tick_tock_tick 7y ago

We didn't have universal healthcare when we stamped out polio, smallpox, or yellow fever. I don't know why you'd think it would stop us now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_from_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diseases_eliminated_fr...

dougabug 7y ago
We had free vaccination of children at school, and opting out wasn’t common behavior. Also, the population was smaller and healthcare significantly cheaper.
afarrell 7y ago
We stamped those diseases out after thousands had contracted them.
phs318u 7y ago
Because at that time people didn’t distrust medical authorities like they do now (anti-vaxxers among others), and didn’t fear (as much) the other consequences of coming into contact with government agencies (incarceration/deportation).
- alfromspace 7y ago
  Oh goodness. Citation needed. And I'm curious whether you happen to be independently against deportation and incarceration. I suppose we'd better open the borders and prisons just to prevent disease, right? Or maybe there's a broader ideology at play here.
  - ziddoap 7y ago
    >"I suppose we'd better open the borders and prisons just to prevent disease, right?" That's one way to take something that no one is arguing for and turn it up to 11. At least try to argue in good faith. Edit: Found a source for you regarding trust in healthcare, for what it's worth. >A 2015 Pew study [...] We as a country have less faith in the medical system than we once did — trust was at 80 percent in 1973, and in 2016 it is 39 percent."[1] [1]https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-dont-trust-their-institutions-anymore/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-dont-trust-th...

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]