
CDC confirms first Ebola case diagnosed in US - rodrigocoelho
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102037055
======
lee
Am I one of the minorities who believe that this hype about Ebola is more
sensationalism and news than an actual pandemic we should be fearful for?

Let's take a lot at what we can agree on:

* The number of cases of infected patients is fairly small.

* The vector of transmission is fluid exchange, so that reduces its ability to spread.

* The virus doesn't appear to lie dormant, and is only contagious when the patient becomes symptomatic.

The chances of contracting the disease in a western country so far is near 0.
The chances of contracting the disease in AFRICA is fairly improbable too.

It really sounds like sensationalism at its finest.

~~~
arrrg
The likelihood of any kind of pandemic is extremely low, sure. However, your
dismissal of this epidemic and its impact is arrogant and disgusting.

It’s still a disaster in the affected countries, with many knock-on effects.
Also, it would have been better to spend more money earlier to prevent
unnecessary deaths.

This Ebola epidemic is actually something people hardly care about. Hardly
anyone is donating, for example.

Help is needed. Actually. For real. And with better support and a better
reaction this could have turned out better.

~~~
lee
I don't know if you can call it a disaster. The total number of cases, as
reported by the CDC, is less than 7000 so far.

I don't mean to be callous, but compare that number to the number of total
deaths to Malaria or even the flu, and that number pales in comparison. I am
not callous to say that we shouldn't care about the Ebola outbreak, but if you
look at the numbers, directing that money to buy more mosquito nets or Malaria
vaccines will likely save more lives.

Malaria kills close to a million people a year. If you're looking for a cause
for donation, the most value per dollar could be directed there.

~~~
crpatino
Last week, the total number of cases was ~6500. One month ago it was ~3000.
Two months ago it was ~1300. How do you call a process that duplicates itself
every fixed unit of time (in this case, every ~3 weeks)?

Of course, we should not fall into panic. Many factors will affect what ends
up being the total effect of this outbreak in the mid to long term. But
dismissing it as a non issue because "there are just a few thousand cases"
misses the point completely.

~~~
orbifold
Hm so that would mean assuming this rate of exponential growth that in ~150
days there would be ~ 1 million cases and roughly a year to reach 100 million.
I wonder how well they can model travel patterns, then you could write down an
ode for the disease on say a country level and couple them.

~~~
crpatino
I am not saying that this will grow exponentially for ever. For what I know,
disease expansion is modeled with a sigmoid curve: exponential at first, then
slows down once a saturation level in the population is reached.

According to Wikipedia, the total population of the 3 most affected countries
- Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - is roughly 20 millions. So there is at
least that upper bound.

The real risk of pandemia comes from the fact that as the number of cases
grows, the more likely it is that some of those cases travel through a porous
border into other countries which lack the infrastructure and professional
discipline to contain new outbreaks. If/when that is the case, each new region
will start its own sigmoidal worth.

~~~
orbifold
Well the sigmoid curve you are referring to would be for the case that
patients who have contracted the virus and survived would be immune or die. In
an SIR model
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmental_models_in_epidemi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartmental_models_in_epidemiology))
that takes death rate and population number into account you would then expect
a disease to either reach a disease free equilibrium or a endemic equilibrium.
What I was suggesting is to couple those equations on the country level by
modelling travel patterns (flow of Suscebtible Recovered Infected across
borders), the result would most likely be that western countries would be able
to reach a disease free equilibrium, as they have better recovery rates and
lower infection rates, whereas ebola would remain endemic in africa.

~~~
crpatino
Thanks, I was not aware of the SIR model.

Regarding your original question... if you can identify individual regions
where the model can be applied, maybe you could use Markov chains to model the
transitions between states in each region. I am not qualified enough to do
that, but I imagine that the result would be a few endemic nodes where the
disease is always present (with different degrees of intensity over time) and
from where outbreaks get sporadically "exported" to disease free nodes.

------
tomelders
I'm having a hard time accepting the "everyone should stop being stupid and
stop panicking about Ebola" argument. To me, an uneducated observer, the
problem only appears to be getting worse. And it has gotten significantly
worse in spite of all the reassurances that it would not get worse.

i think a lot of the vitriol aimed at people who are worried and a little
freaked out by Ebola is unfair. People have lost their minds over much easier
to understand and less worrying issues before and those peoples concerns have
been met with respectful, educated correction. Now it seems to have descended
into name calling and ridicule.

~~~
JimboOmega
I don't see anybody panicking.

And if anything, I've seen calls for more resources, calls to "do more" about
Ebola, etc. Mostly to control it in Africa.

There's the "We are losing the fight to contain Ebola" line, and there's the
"it'll never spread outside west Africa" line. Both of which can be (And are,
apparently) true - it may become endemic to West Africa, but much like
Malaria, it won't be a threat to the developed world.

------
pdeuchler
I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that the mass hysteria and paranoia
coming from this will cause far greater damage than any actual cases

~~~
dguaraglia
Yup, time to buy some GSK shares...

~~~
this_user
TKMR, BCRX and SRPT are the tickers that you are looking for.

~~~
function_seven
Wow, those after-hours bumps are quite pronounced. Now wondering if I should
short them, go long, or keep my sanity and stay out altogether.

~~~
Grazester
If you wanted to long this stock you should have been on board more two months
now. You are a lot late to the party.

~~~
SapphireSun
It's probably more appropriate to short it. Developed health systems aren't
going to need ZMAPP to deal with ebola. Quarantine and a steady supply of
sterile protective gear will do the trick.

------
comrh
Am I correct in assuming that cultural differences concerning death and the
dead along with our healthcare system mean Ebola in America would be
relatively containable?

~~~
atom-morgan
To a certain extent, yes. We obviously have much better equipment but I say
this only extends to handling a few "single" cases of Ebola in specific
hospitals across the nation. However, now that Ebola is actually in the US,
what precautionary measures do hospitals and healthcare workers take?

If I show up to a hospital in Texas right now with symptoms such as a high
fever, sore throat, and diarrhea, do you treat me as as a normal patient or
assume Ebola since it's now appeared within the US? These are extremely
commons symptoms and once Ebola is here, which it is, handling patients is
going to be much different which affects its likelihood to be contained.

~~~
giarc
You will see that the CDC defines a case as someone showing symptoms but also
has epidemiological link to an EVD case or EVD suspect case. Just being in
Texas is not a epi link as there has been no confirmed transmission.

[1] [http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/case-
definition.html](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/case-definition.html)

------
nikolaj
The headline variations are quite interesting:

CNBC: First confirmed case of Ebola confirmed in the United States: CDC

NYT: Airline Passenger With Ebola Is Under Treatment in Dallas

BBC: First Ebola case diagnosed on US soil

CNN: Ebola case is the first diagnosed in the U.S.

FOX: EBOLA HITS AMERICA CDC identifies first case on US soil

Obviously Fox takes the FUD crown, but I thought the NYT actually
misrepresented it a bit..

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "Obviously Fox takes the FUD crown, but I thought the NYT actually
misrepresented it a bit.."

I actually think they were closest to accurate. The other headlines all make
it sound like this man caught ebola in the US. They are the only one to
indicate he was abroad. I think they've undersold it a bit as he spent several
days in the US before being isolated but everyone else has sensationalised to
an extent imo (or written the headline in a way that allows us, the reader, to
accidentally sensationalise it).

~~~
GrinningFool
Looking just at the headline, you only know that he was an airline passenger
and not abroad. Too, you know immediately that he was in an airliner - a small
metal tube, with hundreds of people breathing the same air!

It's actually a pretty masterful headline, in that it doesn't actually come
out and _say_ any of that. It seems calm and fairly accurate, but is worded
very carefully to encourage fear.

Nothing accidental there.

~~~
hga
Until he was symptomatic, 4 days after arriving, he wasn't infectious. Or so
we believe, with a fair amount of data; obviously we'll be drastically
extending our knowledge over the next few years.

~~~
GrinningFool
Sure, but that's not the point. The headline is subtly encouraging people to
think of it as I described.

------
bhousel
Just reposting a comment that I made earlier today (re Syria, but apropos here
too):

IF you have some free time, the Humanitarian Openstreetmap Team (HOT) is
always looking for volunteer mappers. The current ebola outbreak is the #1
priority for HOT.

Tracing buildings, roads, and other features from aerial imagery is something
that anybody can do, and it provides immediate benefit to volunteers from the
World Health Organization (WHO), Doctors Without Borders (DWB/MSF), IFRC and
other humanitarian organizations on the ground responding to the crisis.

To map something now: [http://tasks.hotosm.org/](http://tasks.hotosm.org/)

More on HOT: [http://hot.openstreetmap.org/get-
involved](http://hot.openstreetmap.org/get-involved)

"HOT benefits from contributors with a wide range of interests and experience.
Almost anyone can make a tremendous contribution to our projects by
contributing mapping, but we're also very pleased to hear from developers,
documenters and ideas hackers that can engage with us and our work."

~~~
DanBC
I was sad to see this post get downvotes.

OpenStreet Map need to be commended for their humanitarian work. Their work
helped in Haiti and could help here.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8517057.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8517057.stm)

[http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/haiti-2](http://hot.openstreetmap.org/projects/haiti-2)

There are simple easy things that people can do that are useful.

------
kenjackson
If you were on a plane coming back from Europe and the guy in the seat next to
you said he was just coming back from spending a year in Liberia, what would
you do?

Would you sit there and just make sure he didn't spit on you? Or would you go
sit in the bathroom for the flight? Curious as to how people would react...

~~~
giarc
As stated by the director of the CDC in the press conference, all air
passengers departing the affected countries are screened for fever. Fever is
most often the first symptoms present, and therefore you can logically believe
that if the passenger left Liberia and is on a plane, he does not have Ebola
(or is not symptomatic for Ebola). Therefore I would be fine sitting beside
him.

~~~
kenjackson
Europe isn't an affected area. No one on my flight from London was checked. It
certainly wouldn't be hard to get from Liberia to Europe with no fever, and
then board a plane with fever and sweats.

~~~
giarc
I can speak to the Canadian process. Public Health Agency of Canada is
stationed at all major airports and screen passengers that trips originate in
an affected country. We had a suspect patient that had arrived from Germany
that begin in Nigeria. Due to the routing, they were screened here when they
landed in Canada.

Theoretically someone could fly from an affected country to Europe. Spend a
few days and book another trip to North America and not be screened. However
triage process in hospitals is that patients with fever greater than 38.6C are
asked if they have spent any time in an Ebola affected country within the past
21 days (high end of incubation period).

------
ck2
For something that is supposed to be hard to spread, sure is mysterious how
people are getting it. This person wasn't a doctor.

Also, we are relying on another country to screen people at airports before
they leave. Somehow I suspect this is not being done in a serious manner, ala-
TSA.

------
th0br0
Live feed: [http://feed.matthewkeys.net/cbs-
newspath/](http://feed.matthewkeys.net/cbs-newspath/)

------
MrZongle2
The first questions that came to mind were: a) how did this person become
exposed to Ebola and b) how did they end up in Dallas, Texas?

~~~
ProAm
The article says they placed them in quarantine based on their symptoms and
recent travel history.

~~~
MrZongle2
Yes, but was this person intercepted at a point of entry into the United
States, or did they go to a healthcare facility voluntarily once they started
noticing symptoms, after they were already in the country?

The former implies that there may be sufficient mechanisms in place to prevent
a repeat incident. The latter does not.

~~~
sjm-lbm
FWIW, though DFW is a very big airport, there are no direct flights from
Africa that land there. If they ended up in Dallas, they at least stopped
somewhere outside Africa before they got there.

~~~
rjsw
That would have to be somewhere in Europe.

~~~
saryant
There are flights from west Africa to both Atlanta and Houston, plus some
other cities. United services Nigeria and Ghana out of Houston and Dulles
respectively, Delta has some flights to the same cities out of their hubs.

It is most certainly possible to fly from west Africa to the US without
transiting a third region.

------
dreamweapon
_" It is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this
individual...could develop Ebola in the coming weeks," Frieden said, but added
that "there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here," Frieden said._

General rule of thumb:

Anytime someone says "there is no doubt in my mind about X", you can be pretty
sure that yeah, they _do_ have a lot of doubt in their mind about X.

------
FollowSteph3
What's going to be a real struggle is how do you differentiate between
symptoms of the stomach flu, influenza, Ebola, and so on...

~~~
giarc
Well someone that hasn't been to an affected country, or been in contact with
the current case won't have Ebola.

~~~
FollowSteph3
For now...

~~~
FollowSteph3
My comment is getting down other yet not that log ago it was said our system
was so good that someone with Ebola would be immediately quarantined:
[http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/06/30/could-ebola-
spread-...](http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/06/30/could-ebola-spread-to-
united-states/) I guess we missed the boat on that one. They were sent out and
continued to expose people to the virus.

Also the odds of it leaving Africa and coming to the us were virtually non-
existant:
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/06/25/324941229/could-t...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/06/25/324941229/could-
the-ebola-outbreak-spread-to-europe-or-the-u-s) I guess that's another oops.

People are underestimating this virus and whenever you underestimate something
you generally later regret it. Hopefully I'm wrong for example, but I see too
many people sending their sick kids to school and so on. I just think that
although we can stop it, it's not nearly as easy as it's made it to be. And we
need to stop it sooner than later. I hope I'm wrong but I dont want to find
out the hard way. Assuming were bettr than a virus is never wise...

------
pistle
Speculation that the person had a hunch they were about to get sick and
figured, "what the heck, might as well get to the US where they'll save me...
it's kinda glum here in Liberia anyways?"

------
micro_cam
This is a great semi formal interview with a local infectious disease
specialist I heard on montana public radio yesterday that gives a rather
unique view:

[http://mtpr.org/post/missoula-doctor-ebola-front-
lines](http://mtpr.org/post/missoula-doctor-ebola-front-lines)

As he explains, Montana has one of the few labs in the country (actually in
the small town I live in) where you can work on live ebola cultures so we have
medical people trained to deal with ebola etc and some also have been spending
time in africa.

~~~
hga
Not many BSL4 labs in the whole world:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level)

And only 15 in the US planned or capable of operating at that level. At least
a couple will only do BSL4 work if surge capacity is needed.

~~~
micro_cam
And I bet Rocky Mountain Labs is the only such facility to include a log cabin
on the grounds ;)

Actually the history of RML is pretty cool. It was founded in a tent in the
early 1900s to study Rocky Mountain Spotted fever and early researchers
included the founder of the frozen foods industry (Clarence Birdseye).

[http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/organization/dir/rml/pages/hi...](http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/organization/dir/rml/pages/history.aspx)

(The BSL 4 is in a modern building that, amongst other measures, maintains a
negative air pressure os any leaks are leaks into the building.)

------
davycro
Could be worse. The pandemic will start if Ebola spreads to a low-resource
country with a large urban population. Worst case, in my opinion, would be an
Ebola case diagnosed in Johannesburg.

~~~
nl
Johannesburg has a population of ~10 million (including connected urban areas)
and is quite a long way from the affected areas.

OTOH, _Lagos_ has a population of around 20 million and is within hundreds of
kilometers of active cases. It's almost _10 times_ more densely populated than
Johannesburg too (20,008/km2 vs 2,900/km2).

------
sparkzilla
My handy Ebola timeline:
[http://newslines.org/ebola/](http://newslines.org/ebola/)

------
forthesheeple
Why don't they just stop the flights to and from infected areas until it's
"under control". Or why don't they stop the plane at a base and check everyone
on board before allowing them back into society? This country's leaders can't
be that stupid.

------
samsaccone
Here is a nifty set of OS data to track the ebola outbreak
[https://github.com/cmrivers/ebola](https://github.com/cmrivers/ebola)

------
andrewchambers
I personally would be concerned if I was sat next to that person on the flight
back home. Even if the fear is unrealistic.

Don't tell me you would happily sitting and eating next to someone with
confirmed ebola for 8 hours plus, because they haven't started showing
symptoms at that very moment.

I would at the very least go to a doctor to be sure.

~~~
jMyles
...because during the flight you'd exchange bodily fluids? Or something?

~~~
stephencanon
Even if you had, they weren’t contagious at that point. Sigh.

~~~
andrewchambers
Even if that is true, would you be happy about the unnecessary risk.

Only after it already happened they confirm if it is safe.

On a global safety issue it isn't a problem, but on an individual level, it is
scary.

~~~
stephencanon
> Only after it already happened they confirm if it is safe.

The passengers were screened for fever before boarding the plane. On the
individual level there are thousands of better things to worry about.

------
JBiserkov
Question to all who suggested "Ban all flights from countries with Ebola"
(myself included): Do we now ban flights from the US?

I'm only half joking.

------
captainbenises
Meanwhile, over 3000 dead in west africa.

------
FollowSteph3
Why is it that almost all comments worried about the Ebola virus are down it's
and flagged, regardless of their quality? That alone is very telling :(

Ps: yes I expect to see this doe voted too :(

------
Grazester
I have always been a bit of a hypochondriac and I was worried about ebola
spreading world wide in 1995 during the Zaire outbreak. I was 12 years old at
the time and my classmates laughed at me. I just hope that I wouldn't have the
last laugh(more like cry).

------
ackalker
Headline: "First confirmed case of Ebola confirmed in the United States: CDC"

Article: "[...] an unnamed patient was _being tested_ for Ebola [...]"
(emphasis mine)

Besides the obvious pleonasm in the title ("confirmed [...] confirmed" doesn't
make it doubly so), nowhere in the article does it say that anyone is certain
that this man actually _has_ Ebola, as obviously, tests are still being done.
Until the results of these tests are in, there is no confirmation.

Is this some kind of reading comprehension test being dumped on HN? For what
nefarious, crowd sourced, statistical research project? <grin>

~~~
arrrg
The patient was tested in two different laboratories (CDC and another one in
Texas). The test is “highly accurate”. It’s Ebola.

Watch the video embedded in this to get the verbatim statement of the director
of the CDC: [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/health/airline-
passenger-w...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/01/health/airline-passenger-
with-ebola-is-under-treatment-in-dallas.html)

~~~
ackalker
'Was' obviously is in past tense. If there is high likelyhood of it being
Ebola, the article should have made that clear in the very first (few)
paragraphs, like stating that further tests are being done to strengthen the
confirmation.

Edit: Ah, I understand now that the CDC has a rather peculiar definition of
"case" of illness, see giarc's comment below for a link.

~~~
maxerickson
The CNBC article was put up before the CDC press conference (and seems maybe a
little slapped together).

arrrg is pointing you at a more recent article that obviates the need to parse
up the CNBC article, in the video the director of the CDC states that the lab
tests have confirmed it is Ebola.

------
angersock
Was thinking about going to the state fair...nope nope nope.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Your big risks in going to the state fair are mostly related to fried grease
products.

~~~
knodi123
Statistically, the sun is much more damaging.

~~~
awakened
The car ride to the fair is what he should be most afraid of.

------
dildog
I am more terrified by those news women's artificial appearances than by
ebola, I gotta admit.

~~~
dildog
-12 for being honest? Keep them coming then.

------
scragg
We should be cautious and prepared for Ebola and not assume we can contain it.
We use isolation chambers and a massive team of doctors in special rooms at
the CDC just to take care of 2 people. I take a look at the hospitals in DFW
and I doubt they can properly contain a handful of cases concurrently.

~~~
giarc
All hospitals can contain Ebola. This is not an airborne disease and therefore
negative pressure isolation is not needed (unless performing aerosol
generating procedures). All you need is a private room and proper PPE use and
infection control procedures.

~~~
DasIch
It may not be airborne but it's still highly infectious and you need proper
facilities for that, a private room alone is not enough for that. A lot of
hospitals, at least smaller ones, are unable to handle such diseases.

In any case containing a patient you know has ebola, is the least of the
problems. Ebola symptoms are not exactly distinctive and if you don't have
reason to suspect ebola, it may very well be able to spread before it can be
contained.

~~~
giarc
A private room is indeed able to prevent the spread of Ebola.

From the CDC website.

Yes – any U.S. hospital that is following CDC's infection control
recommendations and can isolate a patient in a private room‎ is capable of
safely managing a patient with EVD. CDC recommends that U.S. hospitals isolate
the patient in a private room and implement standard, contact, and droplet
precautions.

Source: [http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/patient-management-us-
hospi...](http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/patient-management-us-
hospitals.html)

------
dpcan
Hi, I'm in the freaking-out crowd...

Everyone with the "stay calm" attitude is lucky. This whole virus seems like
such a "matter of time" situation. #1 finally showed up in the U.S. Do you
really think it will just stay at 1? What are they doing with the beds he
slept on, the towels he used after a shower, the glasses he drank out of? Did
he go to a restaurant? A ball game? Who knows?

How much time do we have until it's in a school, on a subway, or your neighbor
has it. Nobody even knows what to do. The first thing Americans do when they
get sick is GO TO THE STORE. They go get some over-the-counter med. Literally,
the first thing people in this country are going to do is go out and expose
more people once symptoms start to appear.

Bodily fluids. A sweaty, feverish person is going to touch a door handle,
counter, and anything else along the way. We won't even be able to pump gas
without rubber gloves.

My checker at Fred Meyer today blew her nose and proceeded to touch every one
of my groceries and scan them. It was disgusting. I literally sterilized
yogurt containers when I got home. People have no sense of how to keep their
germs to themselves.

Ebola starts with fever and vomiting and diarrhea, from what I've read. How
are our sewer treatment facilities going to fare? Seriously, this is going to
become a nightmare.

~~~
HillRat
Let me set your mind at ease: I was actually at the hospital in question all
day today (disclaimer: non-medical personnel, just coincidence) and I was in
more danger from the sushi at dinner than the Ebola in the ICU.

Yes, there is a small chance of a multifocal outbreak, though CDC has moved
quickly to identify and isolate potential contacts. There is an infinitesimal
but still nonzero chance of an honest-to-god epidemic. But medical
institutions and the federal government have wargamed all sorts of epidemic
scenarios in the decade and a half of OMG ANTHRAX/SMALLPOX/H-N-SOMETHING-
SOMETHING panic we've endured.

Even in the (vanishingly unlikely) worst case scenario, state and local
authorities have _extremely_ expansive authorities to impose and enforce
isolation and quarantines, violation of which (in Texas) is a third-degree
felony. (CDC, under HHS delegation, can also impose quarantines to prevent
interstate spread of disease, but generally this is left up to the state.)
Dallas and surrounding communities could enforce a quarantine and let the
outbreak burn out that way, although the economic cost would be enormous. But
even mid-tier nations like Nigeria -- which spends per-capita 1% of what the
US does on its health system, and which has what could be charitably described
as a less-effective government -- have been able to stop Ebola cold with far
less drastic action.

In truth, the greater threat comes from citizens who could mob doctors'
offices and ERs, demanding nonexistent ZMAPP cocktails for garden-variety
seasonal flu symptoms. Unsurprisingly, there's not much medical surge capacity
in most hospitals, and beds and labs are in chronically short supply. Health
system resource consumption by scared but non-sick patients is a far more
likely cause of mortality than an Ebola outbreak.

~~~
dpcan
Unfortunately, this doesn't put me at ease.

Of course being in the same building doesn't matter, and you may be fine.

But if you were one of the doctors who saw him the first time he came in, and
then proceeded to help other patients that day after assuming this guy just
had the flu... well, that's another story.

Or maybe if you rode in the same ambulance he did over the next couple days.

The thing is, the number of people who may have just been exposed is huge, and
how many of those will get caught before it spreads even further?

~~~
DanBC
> But if you were one of the doctors who saw him the first time he came in,
> and then proceeded to help other patients that day after assuming this guy
> just had the flu... well, that's another story.

He was infectious. That doctor should be wearing gloves and washing hands
between each patient and that doctor would not be infectious until a few days
after contact.

~~~
hga
" _Should_ ", but healthcare workers are infamous for not doing this ... and
washing your hands that often would damage your skin, perhaps too much to
continue working in the field.

------
nmjohn
How are you all of you supposedly smart people (you're on hackernews - does
that not mean anything anymore?) making such baseless and ignorant comments?

If you don't have a degree in a related field or haven't spent any amount of
time studying disease (and no, Pandemic the game does not count) you have NO
BUSINESS making comments on the preparedness of the US healthcare system - or
on how the disease may affect anything.

All you are doing is spreading FUD - you are acting like Fox News and it is
downright shameful.

~~~
rnovak
I love how you're complaining about people posting without authority,
meanwhile not providing a reason that we should listen. Can you say hypocrite?

~~~
kyro
You don't have to be an authority to criticize others for speaking about a
topic in which they likely have zero expertise.

~~~
rnovak
proof of lack of expertise? Oh right, there is none. You don't know someones
credentials over the internet. Unless you maybe divine them somehow

~~~
rnovak
I didn't overlook anything, but I'm also not under the illusion that Hacker
News is a peer reviewed journal. Hacker News doesn't require anything of a
commentator, the only requirements are on content.

Unless you can magically ascertain the qualifications, or lack thereof, of
someone, maybe you should only criticize on the content of their comments?

