We begin with an interesting story from the New York Times:
Notable Absence of New Ebola Quarantines at New York Area Airports
A day after a doctor who had returned from Guinea about a week earlier became New York’s first Ebola case, the governors of New York and New Jersey announced that they would begin quarantining travelers who had been in contact with Ebola patients in West Africa.
The move, which went beyond federal policy, drew protests from medical aid groups and the Obama administration, who said it would penalize people who were trying to contain Ebola and discourage others from doing so.
But since Kaci Hickox, a nurse, flew into Newark’s airport on Oct. 24 and was kept at a hospital for three days, no one else has been caught up in the quarantine dragnet at the New York and New Jersey airports.
The absence of quarantines is striking, not only because both governors emphatically defended the policy as a necessary precaution, but also because most people returning from Ebola-stricken countries arrive in the United States through Kennedy and Newark Liberty International Airports. Several aid organizations have American health care workers in West Africa, a handful of whom return every week. But New York and New Jersey officials say no one coming through the two airports since Ms. Hickox has reported direct contact with Ebola patients.
From the Associated Press, another European patient evacuated:
Italian doctor with Ebola returning for treatment
An Italian doctor who has been working in Sierra Leone has tested positive for the Ebola virus and is being transferred to Rome for treatment, the health ministry said Monday. It is Italy’s first confirmed case of Ebola.
The doctor, who was not identified and who works for the non-governmental organization Emergency, is scheduled to arrive overnight in Italy for treatment at the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome.
Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said in a statement that the doctor experienced a fever and other symptoms overnight, but he was well enough to eat breakfast and drink beverages. The ministry said all measures are being taken to ensure the safe transport of the patient following biohazard protocols.
From the Associated Press, anticipation of cash registers ringing [or beeping, or booping, or whatever]:
Merck, Iowa firm sign Ebola vaccine licensing deal
Merck & Co., one of the world’s top developers and sellers of vaccines, has entered a partnership with a small drug developer to research and manufacture a potential Ebola vaccine now in initial patient testing.
The exclusive deal involves a vaccine candidate called rVSV-EBOV that’s under early development by BioProtection Systems, the vaccine-development subsidiary of NewLink Genetics Corp. of Ames, Iowa.
The vaccine was originally created in labs of the Public Health Agency of Canada, which in 2010 signed a deal giving BioProtection Systems an exclusive license for the vaccine and the technology involved in producing it.
Under the new deal, Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, gets exclusive rights to the vaccine and any follow-up products.
On to Africa, starting in Mali with Voice of America:
Mali Attempts to Shut Down Ebola Transmission Chain
Senegal and Nigeria were able to stop small Ebola outbreaks by closely monitoring those who had contact with the sick person and quickly isolating anyone with symptoms.
Mali is scrambling to do the same now, almost a month after a 70-year-old Guinean imam sought treatment at a clinic in Bamako. Five people have already died. Mali confirmed a sixth related Ebola case Saturday; a female relative of a nurse who treated the imam.
Every day, twice a day, teams are checking just over 300 people around Bamako. All of these contacts are linked to the Guinean imam who died of Ebola at a private clinic October 27, two days after he had arrived for treatment.
From the U.N. News Center, the U.N. acts:
Top UN health officials take joint mission to Mali in support of Ebola response
The Executive Director of Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Michel Sidibé and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, have visited Mali in a joint mission to support the country in its efforts to curb the spread of Ebola, as authorities there announced one new case and that two more suspected patients were being tested.
“The next 15 days are critical for ending Ebola in Mali,” where at least 5 people have died from the virus, UNAIDS said in a press release issued today. “The coordination of action and strategic communication are key to success, as are immediate international funding and technical assistance.”
The UN is ramping up support on many fronts to support both the preparedness and response efforts of the Malian Government, including with the announcement on Friday by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) would establish an office in the country. That office is scheduled to formally open an office in Mali on Wednesday.
Next, on to Liberia with FrontPageAfrica and a shocking allegation:
Ebola Stigma at Firestone: Orphans Thrown to Wolves – An Inhumane Act By A Heartless Company
A DAILY MAIL report suggesting that the Tyre giant Firestone has ordered the children of workers who died from Ebola to leave their homes on its plantation in Liberia is very troubling.
ACCORDING TO THE REPORT, Firestone which is part of the Bridgestone group which last week announced sales for the first nine months of the year totaling £14.5 billion – has told the families they cannot stay on in worker housing and will not get pensions. “At least 57 people have died on Firestone’s giant plantation near the national capital Monrovia since the start of the outbreak in March,” according to the report.
FIRESTONE, like most expatriate and concession companies abandoned Liberia at the height of the outbreak, leaving behind families and workers who labored the plantation in search of rubber which the company then export for profits.
IT IS SAD THAT a company as large as Firestone would throw children in the streets after surviving such a horrific virus.
Next, from the News in Monrovia, police preparations:
Police Ready To Enforce Anti-Ebola Regulations
The Liberia National Police is said to be gearing up for robust enforcement of the government’s anti Ebola and other safety regulations during the pending special senatorial election.
Police Director Chris Massaquoi said the LNP has been ordered to ensure the enforcement of the Ministry of Health and National Elections Commission (NEC) regulations during the election.
Speaking Friday at the Ministry of Information regular press briefing in Monrovia, Director Massaquoi said pursuant to the power granted the Ministry of Health under the Public Health Law, the police will also ensure that all beaches in Liberia remain closed during holidays.
He called on parents, religious leaders and others to warn their children and relatives against going to beaches during holidays.
The LNP Director also stated that except for the political campaign rallies, all public rallies, demonstrations and gathering in public areas will be strictly prohibited until Liberia is declared Ebola free.
However, Director Massaquoi said all political campaign rallies are expected to also be held in keeping with the guidelines and regulations of NEC and the Ministry of Health.
Reuters covers an upbeat assessment:
“Dramatic improvement” in Ebola outlook in Liberia -U.S. general
A U.S. general in the force helping Liberia fight the Ebola epidemic reported on Monday a dramatic improvement in the situation there and confirmed the cancellation of two planned treatment facilities.
Brigadier General Frank Tate, deputy commanding general of U.S. Operation United Assistance, said the drop in the number of cases in the country was all the more encouraging given recent improvements in reporting capacity.
He said new daily cases have fallen to around 20 from close to 80 when the operation was announced in September. Ebola is still spreading in other parts of West Africa.
While FrontPageAfrica covers a contrarian view:
‘Wishful Thinking’: Politics & Ebola Dampens Ebola End by X-Mas
U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Deborah Malac’s description of Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s goal of eradicating Ebola by Christmas as “Wishful Thinking”, heralds a key challenge many health experts fear could keep the virus around for quite some time, especially for those contemplating voting in a time of Ebola.
That goal is being compounded by an upcoming senatorial election, many say would be a crucial test of the government’s message against Ebola and Liberia’s reaching a turning point in the outbreak: Avoiding touching, kissing and a large gathering of people can be a hard sell for a nation historically noted for daring conventions.
At the headquarters of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change last Thursday, for example, it was hard not to notice partisans and supporters of senatorial candidates hugging and holding hands as sweat poured amid the celebration.
And StarAfrica covers worrisome numbers:
Liberia: Resurgence of Ebola in Bong County
Reports from central Bong County say the county health team has reported 22 new cases of Ebola over a period of one week, despite huge reduction in the number of cases across the country.Media reports Monday quote the Bong County Health Team Administrator Fatorma Jusu as saying 10 of the 22 cases are confirmed, one probable and eleven suspected.
Jusu attributed the emergence of new Ebola cases in the county to the outbreak in Taylor-ta that has now crossed over to Bomota and Gbatala, all of which are adjacent to Taylor-Ta in Yelequelleh District, Bong County.
Addressing the regular Ebola response Taskforce briefing Monday on Phebe Compound on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Gbarnga, Jusu attributed the new outbreak to the breach of quarantine rules by residents of Taylor-ta, and stressed the need for urgent redress of the situation.
After the jump, a new aid shipment arrives, new treatment centers — one American-built, the other Chinese — open, an economic lament, fears of another flare-up, reintegrating the healed in healing roles, journalists’ ethics challenged, a chief calls on fellows chiefs to join the Ebola fight, American medical missionaries lauded, then on to Sierra Leone where a worsening epidemic thwarts a U.N. goal, a mayor makes a plea, plus a bitter harvest. . .
The NewDawn covers help arriving:
EU offloads anti-Ebola cargo – cautions against high risk re-infection
The Dutch government and eight other European Union member states have presented a cargo of anti-Ebola materials valued 3.6 million Euros, including two fully-equipped ambulances, laboratory, jumper delivery beds, body beds, protective suits, goggles, respiratory masks, and rubber boots, among others.
Notwithstanding the progress made against Ebola in Liberia, the Netherlands Ambassador to Liberia Hans Docter, warns that the disease is still going on in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Malia, “[and] so the risk of re-infection remains large.”
Besides, Liberia is already in a campaign period for Special Senatorial Election, and President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she sees “some relaxation” here as people have now carried anti-Ebola buckets into their houses instead of being kept outside, saying she wants “to make sure they bring them back on the outside.”
From AllAfrica, a new treatment center opens:
Liberia: U.S. Builds Third Ebola Treatment Center in Bassa
In support of the fight against the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, the United States Government, through the U. S. Army Engineers, has completed its third Ebola Treatment Unit in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County.
Speaking at the tour of the new facility last Friday, Major General Gary Volesky, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, explained that, this is the first Ebola treatment unit built completely by the U.S. Army Engineers to help in caring for Ebola patients.
Maj. Gen. Volesky explained that the facility has the capacity of 100 beds. The construction lasted 23 days with the materials being procured both locally and abroad.
Another opening from the NewDawn:
Chinese ETU ready for dedication
The Chinese construction company CNQC, building an Ebola Treatment Unit at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium in Paynesville, is expected to be officially turnover for dedication today.
A local senior staff of the Chinese construction company, Amadou Kamara, told reporters Monday that the ETU, to be manned by Chinese Doctors, is equipped with highly functional and supporting facilities.
Kamara said the 100-bed hospital is expected to be manned by at least, 160 Specialized Medical personnel from China, in collaboration with their Liberian counterparts.
An economic lament from the Inquirer:
Marketing Assoc. Manager States Effects Of Ebola On Members
The Ebola crisis in West Africa differs from other emergency situations in almost every way. This is not a crisis where needs can quickly be identified, supplies distributed and measures implemented to put people, communities and the economy back on track.
The situation is getting more serious every day. While the number of Ebola cases are doubling every three weeks, the virus also keep taking an increasing economic toll, affecting the poorest half of the Liberian population who lives in conditions of extreme poverty, the hardest.
Emmanuel T. Tumbey, General Manager of the Liberia Marketing Association, said his members are severely affected by the crisis, especially those selling bush-meat, which has been banned due to the risk of contagion, but also those selling other goods, due to high prices, travel restrictions and closed borders.
Fears of another flare-up, via the Monrovia News:
VFT Fears Ebola Outbreak In W/Point Again
A local group, Vision for Tomorrow (VFT), fears another outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Point Township considering the lackadaisical attitudes of the residents.
The Chairman of VFT Alphonso T. Koti said residents of the township are now going about their normal behaviors as if Ebola is out of Liberia. He said residents have abandoned all of the preventive measures and are now interacting with one another as they did prior to the outbreak of the virus.
Koti said most households in the township have abandoned washing of hands, even though they were given buckets, chlorine and clorax during the heat of the Ebola outbreak.
Reintegrating the healed in healing roles, via the NewDawn:
12 Ebola survivors presented to West Point elders
The Active Case Finders providing services in West Point Community have identified 12 survivors from the community and handed them over to the elder council in West Point.
Ministry of Health Community Based Initiative in the West Point Community district 4, organized a meeting to facilitate the establishment of an Ebola Task Force to help mitigate the resurging denial of the Ebola Virus, stigma, and the hiding of sick people.
The effort was made by the Active Case Finders and Contact Tracers of West Point, held with the elder Council, the new Commissioner and the youth of West Point.
Journalists’ ethics challenged, via AllAfrica:
Liberia: Journalists Pile On to Bash Ebola-Fighting Doctor
This is a story about an American physician many in Liberia regard as a hero. It is about his volunteer group, called Heartt – Health Education and Relief through Teaching – which has helped train hundreds of medical professionals who built a post-conflict health system that enabled impoverished Liberia to lead Africa in reducing deaths of children under five.
It is also a story about how journalists from respected international media became an echo chamber for flawed reporting, even as their own news organizations promote themselves as more accurate, balanced and thorough than their upstart digital competition.
It started with a Wall Street Journal story with a headline about “Liberian Doctors” who are “Staying Away” from the “Ebola-Ravaged Country”. The article focused on a single doctor who had decided “to pull his medical training group out of his homeland because of mounting risks to doctors there”.
From the Inquirer, a chief calls on fellows chiefs to join the Ebola fight:
Chief Zanzan Karwor On Ebola
“There will be more hunger right after Ebola is gone from Liberia completely and I will ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to instruct all superintendents and district superintendents to make some 250 acres of land to be used for farming after Ebola is out of Liberia,” the Traditional Council of Liberia Chairman, Chief Zanzan Karwor asserted.
He, however, stressed the need for the growing of more food by the locals to help stop hunger in the country after we shall have won the fight against Ebola.
Chief Karwor has called on all the chiefs, zoes, and elders to join hands in the fight against Ebola something, he said is of great concern to all Liberians because without food in the country after the eradication of Ebola, things will take a different shape.
And from FrontPageAfrica, American medical missionaries lauded:
Haven in Rivercess: Amidst Ebola, U.S. Couple Saving Lives
Cestos River, in lower Yarnee District Rivercess County – Martha Johnson is grateful to Steven and Jen Butwill, an American Missionary couple who for the past two years has been operating the only clinic in this part of Liberia, the Po River Medical Clinic. Johnson, a pressure patient says since she started coming to the clinic, her pressure has gone down.
“I am a pressure patient and because I am coming to this clinic, the pressure is going down, and the medicine is cheaper. I tell God, thank you for bringing the missionaries here.” Johnson says prior to the missionary’s arrival in the area, she and others had to travel all the way to Cestos for treatment. “The distance was very far for us, especially if you do not have LD $250.00 to transport yourself; you have to walk to go.”
Many people living in towns and villages across the Cestos River, in lower Yarnee District Rivercess County, come to the Po River Medical Clinic which serves as a relief for dwellers. On a recent weekday, a visitor to the area embarked on a hectic journey, crossing the Cestos river in a Kru canoe, made of wood, as the only means of getting medical treatment in the Cestos City, the capital of Rivercess County.
On to Sierra Leone with Reuters and a grim report:
UN says to miss December 1 Ebola target due to rising Sierra Leone cases
The U.N. Ebola Emergency Response Mission will not fully meet its December 1 target for containing the virus due to escalating numbers of cases in Sierra Leone and elsewhere, Anthony Banbury, the head of UNMEER, said on Monday.
The mission set the goal in September of having 70 percent of Ebola patients under treatment and 70 percent of Ebola victims safely buried. That target will be achieved in some areas, Banbury told Reuters. He cited progress in Liberia.
CCTV Africa covers a bitter harvest:
Sierra Leone’s Ebola Backlash
Program notes:
Cocoa farmers in Sierra Leone have stopped farming the crop as ebola continues to wreck West African economies. Movement restrictions mean that the farmers cannot take their produce to market while dropping global prices are not adding any incentive. CCTV’s Wazir Khamsin with the story.
And a mayor makes a plea, via Voice of America:
Sierra Leone Mayor Urges Public to Follow Anti-Ebola Measures
It’s been seven months since the first case of Ebola was discovered in Sierra Leone. The mayor of the capital Freetown, Franklin Bode Gibson, said he has buried a large number of people.
“I can tell you,” he said, “that the Freetown City Council has buried about 2,200 corpses since the start of the disease.”
Officials say of that number, over 1,200 deaths have been caused by the deadly virus. Just this week two medical doctors have died of Ebola — bringing the total number to seven. With over 500 people becoming infected every week, Gibson says he will prepare a new cemetery.
“We’re keeping about 1,000 more spaces [available] for burials…When we exhaust that, we will have to send burials to Allentown in the east, where we are now working on [obtaining] the land,” he said.
