Ebola Scare Shuts Down MBTA Station

[KinMd]

Source: Boston Magazine


MBTA
Ebola Scare Shuts Down MBTA Station
False alarm.
By Steve Annear | Boston Daily | October 16, 2014 12:41 pm
21

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Photo by Steve Annear

Photo by Steve Annear

Calls to first responders about possible Ebola cases are “the new anthrax,” according to MBTA Transit Police.

On Thursday, train services between the Ruggles and Back Bay stations were suspended after a woman was sick on the platform at Massachusetts Avenue, and traces of blood were visible in her vomit.

Transit Police Deputy Chief Jim Witzgall said that after receiving a 911 call, where a person claimed a “Liberian woman” might have Ebola, emergency responders rushed to the scene and closed down the T station, roping off a section of the street leading to the stop along Mass. Ave.

Witzgall said they responded to the scene as a precautionary measure given the fact that Ebola concerns have dominated the news, and recent reports of people possibly being infected with the deadly virus have led to “panic.”

“Someone made the assumption she was from Liberia, and she had Ebola. She never stated any of that,” he said, adding that the woman is actually of Haitian descent. “We are all doing our best to maintain security and maintain everyone’s awareness about [Ebola] at the same time, and keep everyone sane and calm. We don’t want to overreact, but at the same time we want to maintain the right safety and protocols.”

Read more: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/10/16/ebola-scare-mbta-station/

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I'm afraid we're going to see alot of this by winter

[rocktivity]

1. A nightmare come true

Any dark-skinned person who gets sick in public is going to be fair game now.


rocktivity

[Rozlee]

2. I can't believe how stupid people are about this.

Especially conservatives. Listening to Faux really drops their IQ points into the imbecilic range. I heard these fools at the HEB picking up deer corn and talking about how they were thinking of selling their homes and moving further up the hill country because everyone would be sick and they needed to be isolated and have enough food saved and weapons to protect them from infected people and looters. For fuck's sake. It's Ebola, not zombies.

[KinMd]

4. If they turn on "The Walking Dead" by mistake

..they'll think it's documentary

[Rozlee]

5. Fox has done them a favor.

It's made them so stupid, if a Zombocalypse ever occurred, no self-respecting zombie would think of eating their brains.

[Adrahil]

17. It's fuckin' ridiculous.

Exercise reasonable caution. But you're right... people act like they are the the TV show The Strain.

[FLPanhandle]

23. Wait until flu season really kicks in

Lots of people coughing and sneezing. These idiots will be shutting down the entire country and flooding the hospitals thinking they all have Ebola.

[SoapBox]

3. "She never stated any of that"

Hair on fire! Hair on fire!

Americans have gotten really stupid.

[uppityperson]

6. Reccing for panic factor

Seriously, what's going to happen once influenza starts up.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Indeed. eom

[Chemisse]

11. Just what I've been thinking.

Hopefully people will get weary of all the false alarms (although it would help if the well-publicized false alarms were later clarified).

[arcane1]

28. Emergency rooms filled with people who got sick. In winter. Great.

Not to mention the scapegoating of anyone with skin pigment and a runny nose

[cosmicone]

7. Notwithstanding people's stupidity

the Obama administration has handled it badly.

One report states that Obama was aware that there was a 25% chance that Ebola would reach the US, he should have immediately appointed an Ebola Czar, stockpiled on protective gear, isolation chambers etc., made them available to every major city by air-delivery, made all ERs aware of the possibility with an emergency bulletin, immediately trained a rapid response team to go take of the sporadic occurrences instead of leaving it to ordinary hospital staff and had detailed interrogations of everyone coming from West Africa (with perhaps a screening test) at the border to determine whether to quarantine. Anyone suspicious should have then be quarantined.

Allowing potentially infected people to mix with the general population is the worst one can do especially with a rapidly fatal illness like ebola.

I like Obama but on this particular issue, his response has been Katrina-like and unfortunately, democrats are going to pay dearly for it in mid-terms.

[Control-Z]

10. I swear.

I fully expected you to follow this rambling mess of should haves with the sarcasm thingy. Geesh.

The only thing you left out is Obama's super hero suit.

[Turbineguy]

14. If he had wanted to do all those things

the republicans in congress would have fought him tooth and nail.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

15. Wow...

I've seen the Republicans blame Obama for ebola, but now a Democrat is?

Fucking-A.

[snooper2]

18. I like how you remembered to put the "I like Obama "but"" disclaimer in there

LOL

[cosmicone]

24. I am a supporter of all of Obama's policies

except Ukraine and ebola.

He did great work with the stimulus package and ACA. He is on the right side of history on immigration reform as well.

[JoePhilly]

21. When will he demand an Ebola lane on the Interstates!!!!!???!!!!

[underpants]

34. LMAO

He will give them first dibs on the FEMA camp gun confiscations too I'll bet

[arcane1]

31. WTF do the mid-terms have to do with this? He's not running.

[underpants]

32. 3

3 cases in the US. that doesn't count about that many who have made it through.


3

[jtuck004]

8. Don't be so scared. Probably just TB. n/t

[Demeter]

12. Or cholera...there's a lot of that in Haiti

thanks to the UN importing it after the earthquake

[jtuck004]

13. Been a while back, but the last person with TB I handled was sleeping in a cafe.

Guy had no money, so the owner was letting him sleep in the back, on the potatoes. He finally got so sick he couldn't cover for the blood he had been coughing up. Put a real damper on the breakfast crowd of cops and firefighters for a while...shoulda seen their faces. Never will forget that.

People are funny. They get all worked up about the wrong threats that are far away, and really don't see the ones they are about to step in.

[bettydavis]

16. get ready for all the anti-africanism and anti-blackness to come spilling out

http://masetv.com/texas-college-denying-african-students-entry-over-ebola-scare/

http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/2014/10/chinese-embassy-in-nigeria-denies.html

http://lindaikeji.blogspot.com/2014/10/chinese-embassy-in-nigeria-denies.html

I came back from Johannesburg, about as far away from Liberia as NY is from Peru and everyone was afraid I had Ebola. this "Africa is a monolith" thinking is not just inaccurate it is now showing us just how dangerous racism is to keeping order in a society. Closing the borders in the US is ridiculous if no one else does it.



I finally see how truly toxic the news media is. This is not happening outside the Us. Noone is hysterical about this. And it will get real ugly real quick. Matter of time before little African immigrant kids are getting attacked in the streets and all the Black Americans who don't want to claim Africa as their heritage are about to find out just how broad that one brush stroke really is.

[bullwinkle428]

19. Just like those Islamophobic assholes that were attacking

(and in some cases killing) Sikhs (because they wore turbans) in the days and weeks following 9/11.

[arcane1]

33. In the days, weeks, and YEARS following 9/11

The priests had gathered in the lobby of the sprawling Sikh temple here in suburban Milwaukee, and lunch was being prepared as congregants were arriving for Sunday services.

Instead of worshipers, though, an armed man stepped through the door and started firing.

-snip-

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/us/shooting-reported-at-temple-in-wisconsin.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[valerief]

22. I said something like that to a friend a couple weeks ago.

People would associate ebola with black people and more racism would be stoked. She, in so many words, called me an idiot.

[Marrah_G]

20. This is that the media has caused through fear mongering and misinformation

[upaloopa]

29. It not only takes the media it takes people to believe the

hype and to pass it on. We aught not respect the ramblings of these folks wether it is here or on some plane or subway. When help is needed and the EMT is answering a bullshit Ebola claim it will matter.

[yellowcanine]

25. "Someone made the assumption she was from Liberia...the woman is actually of Haitian descent."

Well that didn't take long.

[arcane1]

35. Like Chris Rock says, that train is never late! n/t

[Comrade Grumpy]

26. Freak Out! Right Fucking Now!!!!

[upaloopa]

27. Someone needing help won't get it because

some fool shouted Ebola in a crowded subway or plane

[Louisiana1976]

30. As long as this Ebola scare is going on people will have stomach flu and be thought to have Ebola.