Reuters:
A man who flew from Liberia to Texas has become the first patient infected with the deadly Ebola virus to be diagnosed in the United States, health officials said on Tuesday, a sign the outbreak ravaging West Africa may spread globally.
The patient sought treatment six days after arriving in Texas on Sept. 20, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters. He was admitted two days later to an isolation room at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
U.S. health officials and lawmakers have been bracing for the eventuality that a patient would arrive on U.S. shores undetected, testing the preparedness of the nation's healthcare system. On Tuesday, Frieden and other health authorities said they were taking every step possible to ensure the virus did not spread widely.
"It is certainly possible someone who had contact with this individual could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden told a news conference. "I have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States."
Feeling a lot of sympathy for ER docs in TX tomorrow, who will be seeing a LOT of people with sniffles.
— @EdInTheICU
Dan Diamond:
The Daily Briefing regularly runs interviews with some of health care's most prominent CEOs, and we recently spoke with John Fox, CEO of Emory Healthcare, about his leadership lessons, his thoughts on the industry, and his big decisions—including the decision to accept several patients who had contracted Ebola in Africa.
That interview was scheduled to run later this week. But given the news that CDC on Tuesday confirmed the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States, we thought it made sense to bring this part of the interview forward. (The full interview with John Fox will still run later this week.)
I think it offers essential context on why and how Emory took on several patients with Ebola—and a reminder that the disease can be well-managed, in the right care setting.
Do North Americans need to flip about about the Dallas #Ebola case? No. Should they expect more imported cases? Yes. Containment is crucial.
— @HelenBranswell
Hey, in more viral news, my interview with a
White Plains, NY paper and a
Danbury, CT paper on enterovirus D68.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Joanne Kenen and Susan Levine:
Now that Ebola has arrived in the United States, health officials need to prevent panic — and contain the spread of the virus.
There’s little chance that a single infection could trigger an out-of-control chain of contagion across this continent, like a terrifying Hollywood movie. The disease is not spread through the air, like a cold or flu, but through contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is sick or someone who has died of the virus.
Helen Branswell:
The scale of the task is daunting, but the Ebola epidemic ravaging West Africa can be brought under control if countries deliver on promises of manpower and funding immediately, the international president of the medical response group Medecins Sans Frontieres said Monday.
Last week's unanimous passage of a UN Security Council resolution declaring the outbreak a threat to international peace and security suggests that increasingly vocal calls for help from MSF and the World Health Organization have been heard. But Dr. Joanne Liu, MSF's international president, said she is worried nations still don't get that the additional bodies and supplies they are pledging need to be put in place immediately if they are to achieve the desired effect.
Elaine Kamarck and Alexander R. Podkul (Brookings):
Congressional primary elections generate less voter turnout, news coverage, and scholarly research than general elections. Congressional primaries nonetheless have profound impact and demand better understanding of their outcomes. Look no further than the 2010 midterm election primaries where several Tea Party candidates began to challenge mainstream Republican incumbents, shifting the balance of power in the Republican caucus and contributing to the current polarized political system that has paralyzed Congress.
Michael Fletcher:
Is the unlikely movement to improve the plight of low-wage workers reaching a point where it can’t be stopped?
On Tuesday, New York Mayor Bill deBlasio signed an executive order expanding the city’s living wage law. The change means businesses housed in buildings that benefit from hefty city subsidies will have to pay employees who don’t receive benefits the so-called living wage, now $13.13, up from the current $11.90. The mayor and his supporters hope to pressure the state legislature to give the city authority to raise its minimum wage across the board.
The expansion promises a substantial raise for an estimated 18,000 workers, including retail and fast-food workers, many of whom now make the New York state minimum wage of $8 an hour.
NY Times:
Members of Congress declared Tuesday that they had lost confidence in the Secret Service to protect President Obama and his family and raised serious doubts that Julia Pierson, the director of the agency, was the right person to confront what they called systemic problems and a striking lack of candor about recent security breaches.
After three hours of combative questioning by members of a House panel, lawmakers from both parties called for an independent investigation of a bureaucracy they said could no longer police itself and was endangering the very people it is sworn to protect.