#FactsNotFear, was the presser’s basic thrust and hashtaggable message.
Still, they’re taking every precaution. Smith said that the Frontier Airlines aircraft in which the woman flew has been decontaminated twice and will be in service to Denver this afternoon. (A Hopkins spokeswoman later told WCPN’s Nick Castele that the plane was set to go to Denver, but will now be flying to Atlanta at 4:05 p.m.).
Smith said that key facilities on Concourse A — bathrooms, jetway — will be cleaned as a precaution, and that appropriate airport personnel will wear protective equipment generally used by the fire and rescue staff. Smith said that the city was alerted of the situation “at about 6:10” this morning.
Mayor Jackson, when asked why it took until 2 p.m. to assemble a press conference, stressed that getting the facts organized was critical, and that they didn’t want to cause undue anxiety with “rumors and speculation.” He said he wanted to be as transparent as possible and reminded the gathered media that it was their job to inform the public.
That said, most of the specific questions regarding passenger Amber Vinson were deferred to the CDC. Public Health Director Toinette Parilla did say that Vinson was visiting Akron from October 8-13 and was in town, in part, to plan her wedding.
Parilla also reiterated that Ebola is transmitted via bodily fluids — blood, saliva, semen, etc. — not casual contact, but that the decontamination measures at the airport were strictly precautionary.
“Our job is really to educate the public,” Parilla said, “and to ensure that we have the capability and capacity to detect, protect, and respond.”
Here’s the CDC page on Ebola for some helpful reminders.
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2014.
Sam, we readers are so fucking happy you made it back from South America. We missed your immature style and look forward to more of your subpar dogshit. When Scene fires you, and they will, no one in their right mind will ever hire you. Adios, ass clown.
I cannot believe this magazine allows this reporter to create give a title like this one. Though it did make me read the entire article, I am unfollowing Scene on Facebook and Twitter and will not read in the future. I certainly will not be recommending it to any of friends.
Have some class, Scene.
Kevin P. Kennedy
“Still, they’re taking every precaution.”
Except when the nurse in question contacted the CDC they told her it was cool with them if she flew.
How does a stupid reporter claim they took every precaution when the government gave the nurse the okay t fly?! Look at the problems and expense that has now caused us?
The Scene reporter is FUCKING stupid, I guess. (I say the “F” word ’cause this reporter loves to throw the “F” word around. And, yes, he’s pretty fucking stupid.)
Yeah, I know that 3, 5, 8, and 19 are LOCAL nooze shops, but they went totally apeshit…all ebola, all the time, for hours on end…my elderly neighbor is 83 and going into the hospital and they scared the living piss out of her. She called us and was frantic.
Facts, not fear? My ass. They just repeated themselves ad nauseum, for a whole day and a whole evening, even pre-empting other SHOWS…only in Cleveland. No place else reacted this way. The networks didn’t go crazy, thank God…they were a bit less irrational about it.
I saw ALL FOUR stations showing reporters standing in front of a barbed wire fence at Hopkins, with a FRONTIER aircraft behind them…AT THE SAME TIME…while they repeated the same stale facts endlessly…I bet they were all standing in the SAME PLACE at the SAME TIME, and yammering away. Monkey see, monkey do, monkey babble.
I’m old enough to remember the McCarthy witch-hunts, the nuclear arms race, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc…and they were nothing compared to the era of fear and paranoia we are now enduring…no thanks to the 24/7 news cycle.
Don’t sneeze loudly on a plane or in any public space, and don’t make any sick jokes or say the E-word…or you will find yourself in deep, deep shit.
Chuckles the Clown