Emory University has issued a statement backtracking on a claim made in today’s New York Times, that DeKalb County had threatened to cut off sewer lines if it wasn’t satisfied over the disposal of waste from two patients being treated for the Ebola virus.
From Vincent Dollard, Emory’s associate vice president of health science communications:
"Emory University Hospital has been treating patients with Ebola virus disease in its Serious Communicable Diseases Unit since August 2. During the early stages of this pioneering treatment of patients with Ebola virus disease in the United States, Emory established waste management protocols with local utilities and vendors, along with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Emory and DeKalb County did communicate about waste management. However, Emory was mistaken in saying that DeKalb County threatened to disconnect it from the sewer line.
"Emory used a large autoclave to sterilize medical waste so that it could be removed by its waste management vendor.
"Originally, couriers would not drive blood samples from Emory to CDC, but that was quickly resolved in discussions with CDC.
"And pizza delivery to the hospital was refused by at least one vendor early in the process."
Here's the original post before Emory's statement:
Nothing stirs fear like a global pandemic. According to the lede story in today's New York Times, DeKalb County threatened to cut off sewer lines to Emory University back in August, when two patients infected with the Ebola virus arrived:
Federal health officials have offered repeated assurances that most American hospitals can safely treat Ebola, but Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which had years of preparation for just such a crisis, found out how hard that is while it cared for three Ebola patients.
As doctors and nurses there worked to keep desperately ill patients alive in August, the county threatened to disconnect Emory from sewer lines if Ebola wastes went down the drain. The company that hauled medical trash to the incinerator refused to take anything used on an Ebola patient unless it was sterilized first. Couriers would not drive the patients' blood samples a few blocks away for testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And pizza places would not deliver to staff members in any part of the hospital.
Proof that we have an electorate paying attention comes from the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll:
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are concerned about an Ebola outbreak in the United States, and about the same amount say they want flight restrictions from the countries in West Africa where the disease has quickly spread.
A new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News shows 67 percent of people say they would support restricting entry to the United States from countries struggling with Ebola. Another 91 percent would like to see stricter screening procedures at U.S. airports in response to the disease's spread.
As we saw with 9/11, fear plus interest translates into a political issue. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now testing the Internet ad below that blame Republican-inspired budget cuts to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and other health agencies for a lack of pandemic preparation:
The basis for the ad is a Sunday comment from Francis S. Collins, head of the National Institutes for Health:
"Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would've gone through clinical trials and would have been ready."
This isn't the first time Democrats have dipped into the Ebola issue. In Arkansas, incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat, used the same line of attack against his Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton.
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