ArtFriend

Well, in case you haven't heard (and you must be on Mars if you haven't) a nurse who cared for the "index patient" Mr. Duncan is now infected. And of course the news here is non-stop.

They don't know how she got infected but they say she must have breached protocol. They say she had extensive contact with Duncan (as a nurse, I would guess so).

She drove herself to the hospital (she was supposed to have had an ambulance drive her). So they quarantined her car. Then they blocked off a 4 block area where she lived. Then they cleaned her apt and all the common areas around it. Then they quarantined the dog and her neighbors and the other healthcare workers...and their contacts ..and...and...and...

I cannot help but think this is going to snowball quickly. The head of the CDC said that the average hospital in the US is not equipped to handle this and that this nurse should be transferred to Emory in Atlanta or another place in Nebraska.

I try to stay calm and rational, but I know this thing is working on my nerves (even if subconsciously).

PurpleKnight

The media in Europe is also focusing on Ebola, but there's nothing we can do, no point in worrying about things that are out of our control, there are plenty of diseases out there and they could strike at anytime.

I could be killed in a car accident tomorrow morning on the way to work and all that worrying would have been for nothing!!

Sometimes we gotta just keep on living and take our chances!!

trachemys

You should live here in Atlanta.

ArtFriend

Sorry I brought it up. Just ignore.

patricia68

I agree with Purpleknight. No much we can do about it, it's all beyond our control.

It reminds me of AIDS in the early 80s. We we're all panicking because nobody knew what was going on, or how to stop it.

Focus on healthy happy thoughts

Aellyce

I understand this type of anxiety, ArtFriend, very much. But I'm finding more and more that there are ways to deal with it and neutralize it very effectively. One thing is not turning on the news (or whatever source) so often if you already know there is something bothering you in it. Restrict it to once a day, for example. This approach used to be extremely difficult for me because I have a tendency of wanting to dig in "dark matter", the more disturbing the more I want to know all about it. But in the end, beyond a certain extent, it really does not lead to anywhere good; instead I scare myself out of my mind and still want to go deeper... It is a certain kind of coping mechanism with anxiety, just not the best under every circumstance: instead of running away from it/avoiding it, we want to know all about it as if sheer knowledge could protect us. It is possible to put a conscious STOP to these thought processes and yet not avoiding facing truth. Learning a lot about anxiety management has been HUGE in sobriety for me, and so helpful.

Other things, the more uplifting and positive things we surround ourselves with daily, the less power these threats might have on our mind.

ForgetfulKevin

Dear ArtFriend, no need to apologize -- I'm sure it's on almost everyone's mind around the globe. We're all just a hop, skip and a jump away from each other.

But I'm sure it must be a little worse to have it on the DFW news in a higher concentration than other places. I only check Google News and Drudge Report (which admittedly is sometimes alarmist) once in a while, and I have to remember to look out the window or get outside to notice the peaceful neighborhood and hear the birds.

I live in a college town only one flight away from Atlanta, with people coming from and traveling to all parts of the USA and the globe, and I work in a complex of buildings that includes a regional crisis-response hospital, though I don't work in the hospital itself.

It's a good test case for the Serenity Prayer, and appreciating the moment as it actually is, right? Or as the Stoics might say, sometimes the choice you have is to go along with reality either willingly or reluctantly.

Luckily we're more technically advanced than we were when Ebola was first noticed. Too bad we don't all have a Mister PCR in the kitchen to help sequence the virus and come up with vaccines and cures -- BUT we do have a lot of labs and people on the planet with that kind of equipment and expertise.

And we're not as likely as some of the original outbreak sites to let superstitions get in the way of scientific common sense and precautions.

So it's completely understandable to be on edge about this, but all we can do is take common-sense precautions, appreciate what's in front of us moment to moment, go about our business, and see what actually happens.

Hawks

I realised a good few years ago that the old saying "ignorance is bliss" applies more than ever in the 21st century.

In order to not feel anxious, fearful and helpless... Switch off the TV and don't read newspapers.

Eliminate the source.

It's Ok to choose "selective ignorance" in search of recovery

Aiko

Well I live in Spain and we had problems, we are closer to Africa...

They brought two priest that sorry but where half dead to die over here,
and a nurse got infected and went home... the dog locked in the house and the dog in the balcony, animals protectors sitting on the street do not kill it! but at the end they kill it. And she went as well to get waxed in the hairdresser...
But she got ill and walk in ER as though was a flue...

On top people are phoning the emergency services doing pranks!!!

The same with the scared of the mad cows disease, the same with the bird flue...
The governments spend millions on baxines... and you wonder!!!

But at the end of the day I am not scared...
I will die the day I will die...

Dee74

you and everyone in Dallas has my prayers and best wishes AF.

D

MythOfSisyphus

Ebola has a low index of infection. It's a scary disease but I think there's minimal risk of a major outbreak. There are plenty of other bigger things for me to worry about. Still it bears watching.

herradura

I clearly remember going to get an aids test in the mid 80's. Why? Because I used to sit in Jacuzzi sometimes and I used to use toilets in truck stops when I traveled. All during college.

It will be interesting to see how this ebola shakes out. I doubt they know how it is transmitted, or at least all the ways it can be transmitted. I just hope they get it figured out, soon. I feel for the people who are affected by it.

yeahgr8

Its big over in the UK too. They have started scanning people that fly in from any of the 3 main affected countries. There will definitely be cases that make their way over here or "start" here from the illegal bush meat trade. Definitely could get a bit out of hand not so much because of the reality of implications of a potential outbreak of ebola in the UK but because people are afraid.

My daughter was due to go to Gibraltar at the end of this month and I've asked her to cancel that and go later not because i am worried about her getting Ebola on a plane (extremely unlikely even if sitting next to someone with ebola) but because of the hysteria that is coming, I would hate for her to be unlucky enough to be on a plane where a case of Ebola is found because they will quarantine everyone for 21 days and that would suck and be frightening for her.

It sounds like they have a good grip on it and the government has obviously just given the major pharmaceutical companies a tonne of money to develop a vaccination and a cure but that will take a number of months.

Anyways lets see what happens next couple of weeks?!