Friday, October 31, 2014

Ebola Nurse From Maine: 15 Minutes?

Note the quotes, especially those in the negative of what they are "not trying" to do:  

Ted Wilbur, the boyfriend of Kaci Hickox, the nurse released from isolation after returning last week to the U.S. from West Africa, where she treated Ebola patients, spoke outside their home on Thursday night and told reporters neither he nor Hickox feel they are a danger to anyone in the community.
We are not trying to get anyone sick, and we don’t believe we can get anyone sick,  we are not trying to put anyone at risk,” Wilbur said. “We are not trying to push any limits. We are members of this community and want to make everyone feel comfortable.”
Hickox and Wilbur did leave their home earlier that day for a 40-minute bicycle ride on a local multi-use trail.
If anyone noticed, we did not go into town,” Wilbur said. “We did not go to the grocery store or anything.”
Wilbur declined to answer any questions on the status of Hickox’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention monitoring or the legal battle with the state of Maine.
I like to stay fat, dumb and happy by not knowing what is going on,” he said.
“My feeling personally is my life has been rather disrupted by this whole thing,” he said. “This thing does not just affect Kaci, and when people are coming home from different parts of the world, it is affecting their partners, as well.”
In Wilbur’s case, he is participating in his University of Maine at Fort Kent nursing program via online classes for the 21 days of Hickox’s quarantine.
When pressed, Wilbur said the online option was not, as university officials have said, voluntary.
This is one of those things when people might say to you, ‘Do you agree to not come to classes?’ and you say, ‘Do I have a choice?’ And they say ‘no,’” Wilbur said. “So I said, ‘Oh, I agree to not come to classes.’”
Wilbur did say UMFK President Wilson Hess likely could have found a way for him to attend classes on campus.
I think that would be really nice of him,” he said.
Wilbur said the couple spent the day doing laundry, housecleaning, and “all the things you do after a lot of travel.”
They even managed to get some time to watch a portion of the movie “The Avengers.”
Wilbur thanked members of the community who have showed their support, specifically Fort Kent Police Chief Tom Pelletier who, several minutes after the press conference ended, delivered groceries to the house.
“I think that’s fantastic,” Wilbur said.

21 comments:

John Mc Gowan said...

OT Update:

Suspect's Estranged Wife Arrested in Beverly Carter Kidnapping, Murder

http://www.nwahomepage.com/story/d/story/suspects-estranged-wife-arrested-in-beverly-carter/34619/cq7neb9f_kyOXei-s5h1RQ

Anonymous said...

This may not have anything to do with the subject matter of this particular statement analysis article; however, IMO, I feel this nurse and her bf are being very thoughtless and inconsiderate in not abiding by the governors orders that she (and now him), remain isolated within the confines of her home.

They should be arrested for their defiance, especially her. Twenty-one days is not a long period of time to wait and see if she develops any Ebola symptoms before taking the risk of exposing others to this deadly disease. In fact, the curfew imposed should have been more like thirty days. Suppose it turns out that she is just a "carrier" of the germ but it never materializes in her own body? These things do happen. Through her and over time, millions could be infected.

Personally, I would have been glad to isolate myself for however time it might take to make sure I am/was ebola germ free. The risk this woman is taking in just the tiniest bit of possibility that she might infect someone else is very cruel to her fellow man. She is a very selfish and self centered woman.

Unknown said...

I don't agree. She is an American citizen who does not have Ebola. Why should she be inside? She didn't interact with anyone besides her boyfriend and went for a bike ride. Fine by me.
Her rights are here to stand up for. And she is being thoughtful. Being held the way she was after being checked over and over and being healthy is wrong. There's many people coming back from west Africa who haven't been treated like her. And they aren't even American citizens.
Give the woman a break. She is not infected and has no symptoms.

Back to sa.

The boyfriend said he like staying fat dumb and happy..."not" knowing. He knows what's going on.
But he is doing the right thing as well. Being there for his girlfriend and not going to classes.

Unknown said...

--edit. Her rights are "hers" to stand up for.

And also, you say you would gladly quarantine yourself? How about in the hospital? For as long as they deem you a threat? You give up rights when the government dictates how you should live.
We should be proud this women helped others. Stop calling her selfish. She's not sick and if you want to play what if then what if you were a carrier?

Tania Cadogan said...

PULASKI COUNTY -- A second suspect has been arrested in the kidnapping and murder of realtor Beverly Carter.

Arron Lewis' estranged wife Crystal Lowery was taken into custody Thursday after being questioned by the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office. A Pulaski County Court docket for district judge shows Lowery faces kidnapping and capital murder charges. Court records show Lowery filed for divorce from accused killer Arron Lewis in Pulaski Co. Oct. 17.

Exactly one month ago, on September 30th, the Pulaski County realtor, 49, was found dead in a shallow grave. She had been missing since September 25th.

The Little Rock Police Department took Arron M. Lewis, 33, into custody on September 29 in connection with the disappearance of realtor Beverly Carter. His charges were later amended to capital murder


Another link

http://www.nwahomepage.com/story/d/story/i-didnt-kill-her-accused-arkansas-realtor-killer-e/81900/KkUGi9cYYUKyn6OHje2qZA

Tania Cadogan said...

I wonder if she would be so happy if it were someone else perhaps a neighbor or friend who had been exposed to Ebola treating patients who decided quarantine for 21 days didn't apply to them and they were out and about?
If she had children would she be happy knowing they could risk infection?

No.

Ebola is a funny disease, initially thought to be caught from contact with body fluids form an infected patient, it is now believed it could be spread via airborne means as it mutates So someone coughing or sneezing could possible infect others ( remember how easily colds and flu get passed around?)

Common sense alone would indicate that flights from countries where it is currently be stopped, passengers coming from bordering countries be screened at both ends since people will flee to neighboring countries and try and escape from there.

strict quearantine procedures for any returning from those infected countries or originating from there should be enforced.

We have all seen the movies when a vicious disease breaks out and spreads round the world, especially with modern transport such as planes and porous borders and people smugglers.

Yes it is an inconvenience, as a nurse she should know there is a reason for it, she knew it before she left there.

What would she say if for example she turns out to be infectious after all and she has passed it on to others?

What if she turns out to be a carrier like Typhoid Mary?

Sorry is a bit late for those who are dead.

Kari said...

I just heard on the news that she has now been given a court order to not come within 3 feet of anybody. They also said that the order states that her roommate in west Africa had ebola. The boyfriend's statement that they don't think they are a risk of giving ebola to anybody makes me wonder if they both are super worried about being diagnosed with it but are stressing that they are healthy as a form of denial that symptoms could show up.

Unknown said...

An important detail that Hickox and her supporters are not addressing is the fact that she DID display symptoms of possible infection. Her temperature registered at 101.9 when she was scanned upon arrival at the airport.

THAT is why she was detained, and isolated. She claims to have registered a lower/normal temp later on, when her reading was taken orally, and blamed her earlier high temp reading on the fact that she was 'flustered'. (That, or a 'faulty' thermometer...eye roll)

The fact is, her rights have NOT been infringed. She was detained, just as anyone entering the country from an Ebola exposure area would be, upon displaying a fever at the screening area.

HER actions, and HER immediate threats of legal action, and HER declarations of breaking/fighting the quarantine, (which SHE earned upon displaying a symptom of possible infection) are what have escalated the situation into what it has become, with the governors of multiple states issuing dictates, and threats of legal consequences.

She knew that she faced the possibility of quarantine, both when she chose to leave the U.S. to treat the disease, and when she chose to travel home amid higher monitoring efforts, and worry surrounding an outbreak in the US.

Considering the current climate, I have to wonder if she intended to 'make a name for herself', by choosing this high emotionally/politically charged time to travel home, and then immediately contact the ACLU when she was (gasp) treated like any other person who displayed symptoms would be!

She IS NOT exempt from following the rules. She is displaying the same attitude of ignorance that contributes to the spread of the disease in Africa...with the native people not heading the warnings, and obeying the protocols that officials put in place to control the spread of the disease.

She needs to suck it up and do what is required of people who return to the US displaying symptoms of possible infection, as this is the category she falls into...whether she likes it or not!

rob said...

I think she is hoping for a big lawsuit payoff.
Maybe it should be a rule, that if you are a citizen, and come back, it's mandatory 21 day or more quarantine. If that is too much for you, don't go OR don't come back.
If I lived near her, I would make it known, I don't want to be around you for a month.
As for the Dr. who came back and moved all over NYC, eating out, bowling, traveling on public transportation, to me, that really says something about these medical professionals. They care enough about Africans to go there and try to help them, but care so little about their fellow citizens that they can't stay inside for 21 days. Stupid.
I just hope we don't wait for it to turn into an epidemic here to try and do something about it.
I feel like soon, they'll be loading up ALL the victims of Ebola and sending them here to our hospitals. Then I guess we can pay for that and stay at home if we get sick ourselves.

Kari said...

Oops. The judge revised his ruling on the quarantine matter and basically turned her loose on the promise that she'll tell ahead of time where she's traveling and that she'll report if she develops any symptoms. The precedent is now set for other people to insist on not being quarantined and for this case to be used by attorneys to point to a prior ruling.

I wonder if any present or future employers are paying attention to how much she cares about the health and welfare of her fellow man. Might not be how she wants to be acting right now with the spotlight on her. Just saying.

GeekRad said...

I just commented to my husband that she is not doing anything good for her employment opportunities. Rights or not, I would not hire her.

Skeptical said...

With her center-of-the-universe and the rules apply to everyone else but me type of thinking, I would not want her to be my nurse. She just might think she knows more than a physician and take it upon herself to counter his instructions for my care.

Both she and Dr. Nancy Snyderman have problems with their arrogance and inflated egos.

Also her purported reason for not wanting to be quarantined was that she would be separated from her family seems sketchy. Was she not separated from her family in Africa?

Anonymous said...

Ebola is difficult to contain in 3rd world countries because of the lack of knowledge, superstition, and fear among the citizens.

Well it would seem the US citizens aren't immune to irrational thinking.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that while she chooses to defy a government ruling her boyfriend has agreed to do his schooling online. This certainly makes me question her motives. She is enjoying the "power" she has while playing to the media.

While I agree that the precautions seem out of bounds, remember that the physician in NY did have symptoms the two days before his fever developed - he said that he felt fatigued for those two days - while that is not a fever, it is a "symptom."

Yes, they did go to Africa to help. Are they "heroes?" I think that is subject to interpretation. They did volunteer after all, while the nurses in Dallas did nit. Why don't they feel the same need to protect their countrymen from harm?

And..I agree with the above comment about her employment outlook. Nobody wants to hire a problem. She will probably be that one person who refuses a flu shot even if it is a job requirement - and even is she isn't sensitive, allergic, etc., she will just be "contrary"
All just my opinion, but I have been around these medical professionals for years and most of them take the attitude that they rules should apply, just not to me.

Anonymous said...

St. Theresa, regardless if you disagree with my post yesterday at 10:52 a.m., I'm sticking with my belief that this nurse ought to be arrested (house arrest) for taking the risk that she might infect others with ebola, who would infect others and more others, and like wildfire with no extinguishers this could blow into a full and deadly nationwide epidemic; when all she had to do is keep herself isolated for a mere 21 days; ONLY three weeks of taking long naps, nice bubble baths, stuffing herself and watching the telly right in the safety and snugness of her own home while bedded down with her dumber than sh-t boyfriend.

Obviously, since no county, city or state employees, OR jail cells would be equipped to contain the germs that she has been exposed too and very well might be carrying, she got lucky when she was ordered to stay inside her home. How easy and simple is that? But this simple solution she defies?

Too bad the governor backed down when he ought to have ordered armed guards posted outside her home around the clock and if she ventured outside, shoot her on sight and bundle up her remains with something that would contain her germs, seal her in a drum, inside a drum, inside a drum and dig a hole.

You squawk about her rights? What about mine and yours and everyone elses? Death sentence RIGHTS vs govmn't controls? How the he-l does this equate to our right to life vs a possible death sentence being dealt out by one miserable disgustingly self-centered person calling herself a nurse and a human being who doesn't care who else might die because of her?

To those who make the point that this could affect her future employment? I hadn't thought of that but I agree and hope it does! This woman has no right or conscience aforethought to call herself a nurse, moving about from one sick patient to another not giving a rats a-s if she spreads deadly germs or not.

Tell you the truth, she's dam-ed lucky that someone hasn't put her out of her misery. Perhaps one of those good citizens up in Maine just might do it; not that I would necessarily advocate such a plan but then, there are others who just might.

Anonymous said...

Ditto for the doctor who had ebola symptom warnings but went about his merry way KNOWINGLY and without flickering an eyelash, while spreading his deadly germs around for others to catch and die a horrible death sentence caused by HIM alone.

Throughout all this, where's his stupid girlfriend? Duh. She needs to be put in the bed right beside him and left to wallow in her misery; "til death do us part."

Sorry St. Theresa, but the lives of others DO count.

Bill said...

Heh! I think Hillary meant lock down, but if a lick down got ya interested, give me a hollar!

Bill said...

Heh! I think Hillary meant lock down, but if a lick down got ya interested, give me a hollar!

Unknown said...

Arrested? Omg.

You people scare me.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, just wait until a government official proposes some sort of gun regulation and see if concern for public safety sticks or plummets.

Unknown said...

Shoot her on sight? Out of her misery?? Jeez ... You've got issues.