Rand Paul Engages in Blatant Fearmongering By… Accurately Citing CDC Advice on Ebola Exposure

[jct74]

Rand Paul Engages in Blatant Fearmongering By . . . Accurately Citing CDC Advice on Ebola Exposure

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:24 pm

From our betters at the Associated Press:


Rand Paul Contradicts Experts, Says Ebola Is ‘Incredibly’ Contagious

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told a group of college students Wednesday the deadly virus Ebola can spread from a person who has the disease to someone standing three feet away and said the White House should be honest about that.

His comments directly conflict with statements from world health authorities who have dealt with Ebola outbreaks since 1976.

Stupid fearmonger. Where did he get the ridiculous idea that anyone considers it “exposure” to be standing three feet away? Those who read all the way to the ninth paragraph get a hint:


Still, Paul’s team pointed to the CDC’s website that says being within three feet of an infected patient for a prolonged period of time without the proper gear is a “low-risk exposure” for Ebola.

So: the characterization by the AP is this: Rand Paul — not the CDC, mind you, but Rand Paul — is making the claim that standing three feet away can constitute exposure. This “contradicts experts” and his comments “directly conflict with statements from world health authorities.” And apparently the best he can do to defend himself is to lamely claim that he is somehow basing this on something on the CDC site.

Well . . . is he?

Journalists? Journolists? Bueller? Bueller?

Oh, never mind the journalists. I’ll answer this one: yeah, he is accurately citing the CDC. Here is the page. Grab your screenshots before they scrub it. I have saved it as a .pdf here in case they memory-hole it.

...

read more:
http://patterico.com/2014/10/16/rand-paul-engages-in-blatant-fearmongering-by-accurately-citing-cdc-advice-on-ebola-exposure/

[jct74]

Huffington Post Attacks Rand Paul On Ebola, Other Lib Journos Join In, Gets It Horribly Wrong

Derek Hunter
10:30 AM 10/17/2014

The Huffington Post ran an Associated Press story attacking Sen. Rand Paul under the headline, “Rand Paul Contradicts Experts, Says Ebola Is ‘Incredibly’ Contagious.”

The story starts:


U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told a group of college students Wednesday the deadly virus Ebola can spread from a person who has the disease to someone standing three feet away and said the White House should be honest about that.

His comments directly conflict with statements from world health authorities who have dealt with Ebola outbreaks since 1976. (Emphasis added.)

This, unfortunately for HuffPo and the AP, is not true.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has “Interim Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Ebola Virus Disease Exposure,” listed on their website. Under the heading, “Definitions used in this document,” the CDC lists “Close contact.”

The official definition of “close contact” from the CDC read:


Close contact is defined as
a) being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) of an EVD patient or within the patient’s room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., health care personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., standard, droplet, and contact precautions; see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations); or
b) having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD patient while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment.
Brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute close contact.

...

read more:
http://dailycaller.com/2014/10/17/huffington-post-attacks-rand-paul-on-ebola-gets-it-horribly-wrong/

[acptulsa]

I'm afraid we have to grudgingly yet readily and openly give this one to the liberals.

I don't see how anyone could possibly quote the CDC without engaging in fearmongering...

[WD-NY]

The comments on the MotherJones article are pure GOLD.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/10/rand-paul-thinks-ebola-more-contagious-aids

Example:

by jamieh2 (http://disqus.com/embed/comments/?base=default&disqus_version=aa0a352c&f=motherjones&t_i=node%2F262681&t_u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.motherjones.com%2Fnode%2F2626 81&t_e=Rand%20Paul%20Thinks%20Ebola%20Is%20More%20Con tagious%20Than%20AIDS&t_d=Rand%20Paul%20Thinks%20Ebola%20Is%20More%20Con tagious%20Than%20AIDS&t_t=Rand%20Paul%20Thinks%20Ebola%20Is%20More%20Con tagious%20Than%20AIDS&s_o=default#) -
I hate Rand Paul and think he's a dufus. But attacking him on this is BS.

There are pretty much only 3 ways to get HIV. Have unprotected sex with an infected person, share a dirty needle with an infected person, or get a tainted blood transfusion. Since our blood supply is pretty much safe, and you can pretty much choose to avoid the other two behaviors (yeah I know that condoms are only 99.X %) you can pretty much avoid HIV entirely.

Ebola on the other hand can be picked up through casual contact with an infected person. Yeah, it probably has to be a relatively sick infected person, but it is still causal contact. The sick Ebola patient will be expelling bodily fluids and if you get any of them into your system you are at risk to become infected too.

I know Democrats are playing this as "Republican's are panicking over Ebola" but I'm getting a bit sick of the casual way Democrats are blowing this off as if it's not a big deal. As Biden would say, "This is a big f'ing deal.". You don't screw around with Ebola, as the fools in Texas are finding out. It isn't likely to be some major epidemic in the US, but obviously some people need to start taking it more seriously or we're going to see more medical workers infected.

[jmdrake]

The comments on the MotherJones article are pure GOLD.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/10/rand-paul-thinks-ebola-more-contagious-aids

Example:

I think the liberals are finally jumping the shark to the point that their own audiences don't believe them.

[Austin]

Paul is technically wrong here, but not nearly to the extent that the media is making it seem.


What Paul said was, ... “But then you listen to them closely, they say you have to have direct contact. But you know how they define direct contact? Being within three feet of someone.”

Whereas, the CDC guidelines define close contact as


Close contact is defined as
a) being within approximately 3 feet (1 meter) of an EVD patient or within the patient’s room or care area for a prolonged period of time (e.g., health care personnel, household members) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment (i.e., standard, droplet, and contact precautions; see Infection Prevention and Control Recommendations (http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/hcp/infection-prevention-and-control-recommendations.html)); or
b) having direct brief contact (e.g., shaking hands) with an EVD patient while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment.
Brief interactions, such as walking by a person or moving through a hospital, do not constitute close contact.

Otherwise stated, all forms of direct contact are also close contact, but not all forms of close contact are direct contact. So, Rand likely misspoke and meant to say:


“But then you listen to them closely, they say you have to have close contact. But you know how they define close contact? Being within three feet of someone.”

All of that said, I don't think Rand should be unintentionally fear mongering. I understand his desire to call out the Obama administration, but it's not really necessary. Shep Smith nailed this one right on the head.

Politically, I would have called this a good move if he said close contact instead of direct contac.

[twomp]

lol I am having the best time throwing this back into people's faces on twitter. Thank you Senator Paul for an interesting Friday afternoon!

[mello]

The comments on those stories are so annoying.

I don't give a crap if Rand Paul is a republican or dem, he is very right about this issue. His statements come directly from the CDC's own website. He is not making this crap up. Ebola is no friggin' joke to be nonchalant about it. It has a fatality rate of up to 90%. Someone that is infected could easily spray particles of saliva with a sneeze or cough to infect someone else.

And there have been enough stories of trained medical personnel that still got infected while following protocols to be worried about our current course of action. Honestly, the U.S. should have restricted travel to hot zones months ago.

[torchbearer]

http://d14xe7javp064p.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Screen-Shot-2014-10-17-at-3.55.58-PM.jpg

[alucard13mm]

http://d14xe7javp064p.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Screen-Shot-2014-10-17-at-3.55.58-PM.jpg

Ironic that she is a journalist but can't figure out that Rand is a doctor. Even if Rand is just an ophthalmologist, he still has more medical knowledge than most of us... LOL

[Brian4Liberty]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_9gV9aVE7w

[specsaregood]

Ironic that she is a journalist but can't figure out that Rand is a doctor. Even if Rand is just an ophthalmologist, he still has more medical knowledge than most of us... LOL

"Just" an ophthalmologist? Its a specialty beyond just an M.D. According to the wiki page it even means he is both a surgical and medical specialist.

[phill4paul]

Ironic that she is a journalist but can't figure out that Rand is a doctor. Even if Rand is just an ophthalmologist, he still has more medical knowledge than most of us... LOL

As a journalist she has failed the basic training of the 5 "w's." Who, what, when, where and why. I was taught that in a 5th grade journalism elective class. She can't even get beyond "who."

[Spikender]

"Just" an ophthalmologist? Its a specialty beyond just an M.D. According to the wiki page it even means he is both a surgical and medical specialist.

He's right when he says "Just". After all, even those credentials aren't enough to qualify to comment medically on anything to a Statist. Their truth is the only truth.

[luctor-et-emergo]

You don't have to be a doctor to understand that bodily fluids can easily spread a couple of feet, especially when someone is sick. This is just a pathetic attempt at a witch hunt. It will backfire.

[georgiaboy]

to wit luctor:

published to youtube over a year ago, April 4, 2013.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xecad_32VAM

[acptulsa]

As a journalist she has failed the basic training of the 5 "w's." Who, what, when, where and why. I was taught that in a 5th grade journalism elective class. She can't even get beyond "who."

That's what you get for not taking it in college.

That's where you discover, these days, that the Rest of the Story is, the five dubyas are, Who signs your checks, What message do they want you to deliver, When do they want the public convinced of it, Where should the emphasis be placed, and Why should we say it happened?

[supermario21]

Ophthalmology is one of the most difficult residencies to match into. Rand was definitely a great student in medical school in order to land such a residency. I love watching people try to claim he's a fake doctor or an idiot because of things like this or his "board certification."

[specsaregood]

Ophthalmology is one of the most difficult residencies to match into. Rand was definitely a great student in medical school in order to land such a residency. I love watching people try to claim he's a fake doctor or an idiot because of things like this or his "board certification."

Not to mention that he got early admittance into duke medical school skipping his entire senior year at Baylor.

[puppetmaster]

Rand is smart....I take ebola very seriously. I will gladly error on the side of safety on this matter.

[willwash]

Not to mention that he got early admittance into duke medical school skipping his entire senior year at Baylor.

I'm not denying that Rand is a smart guy, but don't you think that had at least something to do with the fact that his father was a duke medical school alum and a us congressman?

[specsaregood]

I'm not denying that Rand is a smart guy, but don't you think that had at least something to do with the fact that his father was a duke medical school alum and a us congressman?

Not according to the school itself. They say its all about the grades:


Paul was in the honors program at Baylor and scored about the 90th percentile on the national Medical College Admission Test, Stafford said. He could not immediately provide documentation to support that claim.

Michael J. Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs for Duke University in Durham, N.C., said his school's records show Paul received his medical degree from Duke in 1988 and completed his residency there in 1993.

"At the time he was admitted to our medical school, Duke sometimes did admit students of exceptional abilities. Other professional schools have done that," said Schoenfeld, noting that Duke now requires its medical students to have bachelor's degrees.

He did not know when Duke changed its policy.

Ron Paul was a member of Congress when his son was at Baylor and was accepted to Duke. The elder Paul also is a graduate of Duke's medical school.

Stafford said Paul's famous father played no role in the son's admission to Duke.

"I don't think medical schools such as Duke are influenced by an applicant's legacy," he said. "The student has to have the grades, and Rand Paul did."

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/08/05/1377392_contrary-to-some-media-reports.html


edit: I could see making the son of a congressman and alumni argument for some c student just trying to get admitted. but not for an honors program student with a really high MCAT score trying to get into a special early admittance program for "students of exceptional abilities"

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://i.imgur.com/EOtLCnG.jpg

[helmuth_hubener]

That's what you get for not taking it in college.

That's where you discover, these days, that the Rest of the Story is, the five dubyas are, Who signs your checks, What message do they want you to deliver, When do they want the public convinced of it, Where should the emphasis be placed, and Why should we say it happened?
Ha! Very clever. I like it.