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@lizzywiz: Unfortunately, Ebola is much more infectious than that. Contact of bodily fluids with even "intact" skin is adequate to transmit the virus...hence the "moon-suits" in West Africa. That said, no one is at risk IF they are not in direct contact with an acutely ill, infected patient or their bodily fluids (within a fairly short time frame)...

@lizzywiz: I thought the same thing, but then I remembered that hospitals in Nebraska and Atlanta have treated ebola patients and no one got it. Which is what makes me suspect there may have been some sort of breach in protocol, most likely as @JoJoGirl said when taking off gear, etc. Also he was at the hospital while symptomatic and then sent home. I really hope this is a wake up for hospitals to PREPARE their staff now, though. This article talked about how the Dallas people basically had to figure stuff out on the fly and it doesn't sound like they necessarily followed CDC protocol from the beginning: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/dallas-hospital-learned-its-ebolo-protocols-while-struggling-to-save-mortally-ill-patient/2014/10/14/32ff2414-53cf-11e4-892e-602188e70e9c_story.html

@MrsSCB: Keep in mind that the hospitals in Atlanta and Nebraska are among FOUR hospitals in the nation that have biocontainment units and have been preparing for YEARS to handle highly infectious diseases like Ebola!

@MrsSCB: Totally agree!! It's crazy how hospitals aren't training their staff to be prepared for this, even now that it's here!!

It's hard to work in those protective suits. I haven't worked with patients but with nasty buggers and I've seen even experienced people make silly errors. There's a natural instinct to brush hair out of your face or wipe your brow with the back of your hand, especially in a warm suit while concentrating. And taking off the get up is also hard. I always carried around a bottle of bleach in a spray bottle to spray my gloves. My friend made fun of me but every time she messed up id say 'Ebola for everyone' (we didn't work with ebola). I guess what I'm saying is protective gear requires lots of training and even then people mess it up

The CDC is here and has been here. They were flown in immediately with the first patient confirmation. What they are doing, I'm not certain. But I believe we started with a team of 9 and it's grown since then.

My understanding from the local news is that even the CDC doesn't have a fully developed protocol to pass along to the local staff.

The CDC and NIH really need to step up at this point and get things fully under control with recommendations, protocols, SOP, etc.

@MrsSCB: Yeah, IF they can figure out what happened, it would be a good learning experience, but it could be something as little as taking off a glove incorrectly or not having the disinfectant on long enough.

Shoot. They might not be able to figure out the exact reason but they will probably have a list of places where it could have happened.

As of Monday, when I looked at the CDC's website for ebola recs for health care workers, it still said "gown, gloves, mask, face shield." And then if there was copious exposure to blood/feces, leg protection and shoe coverings. That is far less than what they are wearing in Africa.

The nurses's union said that the gowns worn by the TX staff exposed scrub pants, head, neck of the nurses. That's not a surprise. Those are exposed when you wear the basic contact isolation gowns. And the CDC never specified that a different type of gown is needed.

It seems that the nurses in Dallas followed the CDC guidelines - and still contracted it. The guidelines need to change.

I work at a big hospital in Chicago and there has been 0 communication about infection control preparations... I'm sure that it is happening with ID and administration, but still, it should be communicated...

It kind of seems to me that the CDC is full of false bravado. Each step and each time it falters it has an excuse and then scrambles to express that it's confident that THIS TIME it's got things under control, or NOW they're going to stop it in its tracks.

Clearly, though, that's not the case. It needs to get its ish together.

@MamaG: This is terrifying! How did they allow this woman to get on a plane?

@travellingbee: this is my question!!!! I can't believe that she was allowed to travel given what had happened with the other nurse. Should everyone who treated him be quarantined????

@plantains: @IRunForFun: The CDC said that they were supposed to self-monitor. Unfortunately these people who have been exposed are basically WMDs. Clearly you can't allow people to self monitor. I don't understand this response. The family who was exposed were forced into house arrest and the healthcare workers who were exposed are just allowed to roam free?

@plantains: I think they've been really lax...apparently none of the personnel taking care of the initial patient were being formally monitored. Of course, you would think that it would just feel like common sense not to board a commercial airplane within the incubation period... Maybe people were feeling invincible?

@FliegepilzHut: @IRunForFun: @catomd00: @travellingbee: I can't believe that anyone who is self monitoring would get on a commercial plane, and I am astounded that self monitoring was recommended in the first place. This is such a lackluster response, it is appalling. I am stunned that Nigeria had a better response to this than the US for crying out loud.

@plantains: I think the CDC should have had stricter isolation measures in place for the healthcare workers, for sure, but if they actually did tell them all they were not to fly commercially, this woman was being really selfish, in my opinion. I mean, I get that it must be really hard to be isolated, but come on, be smart about it.

I think it's sad that Nigeria was able to handle it better than the US is, but it also makes me sad that the CDC had such a cavalier attitude about it when Duncan first tested positive, like "Oh if Nigeria did it, we can DEFINITELY do it." But now they're eating they're words...

First, I DO agree that she was selfish/ short- sighted to be flying. But I also think she is just a normal person who showed up to work one day and got assigned an Ebola patient and was brave enough to take it on. And if they start penalizing health-workers with strict quarantine then nobody is going to want to work with those patients.

I use to be in the ARMY and they did this crazy drill where they called us all into a room, basically told us WW III had broken out and that we would be shipping out immediately, but if anyone felt they couldn't do it they could leave the room/ unit with no penalties. About half the room left, because when faced with an actual threat to their life/ way of life, they just wanted to hunker down with their families. It was a test, of course. Luckily, I stayed, because, boy, did the soldiers who walked out get it.

My point is that even people trained to fight balk when it is time to muster up. I am impressed with the healthcare workers who continue showing up in the face of Ebola.

@IRunForFun: yes but they were not supposed to travel on a commercial airline.

You would think healthcare workers would have a lot more common sense.

The fact that hospitals have such high rates of central line infections and other hac rates that can be prevented with proper hand hygiene and other protocols does not give me any hope that the majority of hospitals and their workers are equipped to handle something like ebola.

@catomd00: Oh I know they weren't "supposed" to but it obviously wasn't being enforced. And I agree that the administrators should have been upfront and requested that Duncan be transferred to one of the hospitals with a bio containment unit.

@catomd00: I think anyone who treats ebola patients, either here or abroad, is brave. Also, Dallas did have protocol from the CDC, which likely made them feel like they were prepared. We now know the cdc protocol isn't cutting it, unfortunately too late to keep those two nurses healthy. But that does not negate bravery and doesn't change the fact that they were clearly willing to treat a patient with whom many other people would refuse to even be in the same room.

@plantains: @catomd00: @IRunForFun: @FliegepilzHut: The nurse was self-monitoring - taking her temperture 2x/day. The day of her flight, her temp was 99.6. When she reported it to the CDC, she was told it was fine for her to fly. The CDC rep who was giving the interview on NPR said she NEVER should have been cleared to fly with that slight fever. Whoever cleared her should be fired!

Not only was she on the flight with those 123 other passengers, but that plane proceeded to take 3 more flights before it was pulled out of rotation. So...if she sweat on that seat, and then someone else sat on it, leaned their head back...? It doesn't take a big gaping wound for Ebola to make it's way into the bloodstream.