Aviation and the Ebola epidemic in West-Africa

[Flanker2]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... ambia-bird

Extracts :

Ebola: UK cancels resumption of direct flights to Sierra Leone

The first direct flights to resume from the UK to Sierra Leone have been cancelled after the British government revoked Gambia Bird’s recently granted permit because of fears over Ebola.
The Department of Transport cited the deteriorating public health situation for the revocation when it notified the German-owned airline on Friday evening.
The airline said it would appeal against the decision, especially as its licence was only granted on 26 September.

Gambia Bird, along with British Airways and Air France, stopped services to and from Sierra Leone in August but the German-owned airline announced it was resuming flights because of the damage being caused by the lack of access.
Only one European airline, Brussels Airlines, has maintained its operations, allowing travel for doctors, nurses and other workers.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the inconvenience to passengers was unfortunate but its priority was tackling the spread of Ebola and protecting the British public from the disease.

The new Belgian minister in charge of "Mobility" (sic) is Mrs Jacqueline Galant (MR). Let's hope she has the same priority ...

The U.K. are doing the obvious, ie, taking their responsibilities.

If this spreads into Belgium or other EU countries through SN, infecting innocent people, the people who are enabling this should be held accountable, from postholders at SN, to the ministers and all "experts" who are encouraging the spread of this disease.

If they really want to fight this thing, they should organise government flights, or charter SN aircraft to use only for relief workers and emergency cargo. Other people have no business travelling to/from Ebola affected area's.

[Flanker2]

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/dandiamo ... /Ebola.png

[airazurxtror]

Possibly the first case in Belgium :

A patient was admitted on Monday morning at St. Pierre Hospital, Brussels. And one suspects that he suffers from Ebola.
"The patient was suffering from high fever this morning. And as he stayed in Guinea recently, the procedure is that it is immediately placed in isolation at the university hospital, "said the spokesman of the FPS.
We must now wait 48 hours for diagnosis and whether the patient is actually attacked by the terrible virus, or if it's only malaria.

http://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/un-pr ... e6104661ff

[sn-remember]

It does however compensate for the lack of any tests all the way BRU, with the exception of the unreliable and useless tests in Africa.

BRU might have thermal imaging camera's who are able to spot persons with a elevated temperature level? This technology is in use for quite some time now (mostly by fire departments around the world) and it's quite accurate within 0.1 to 0.2 degrees centigrade...

I don't know if BRU has those but this might be the reason why they don't check individually.

Repeating myself, did you check this ?
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014 ... f-Training

[Passenger]

Possibly the first case in Belgium :
A patient was admitted on Monday morning at St. Pierre Hospital, Brussels. And one suspects that he suffers from Ebola. "The patient was suffering from high fever this morning. And as he stayed in Guinea recently, the procedure is that it is immediately placed in isolation at the university hospital, "said the spokesman of the FPS. We must now wait 48 hours for diagnosis and whether the patient is actually attacked by the terrible virus

Strange report. The Flemish media report that the spokeswoman for the Federal Department of Health says that the patient indeed is treated as if it's ebola, but that she expects that it will most probably be another case of malaria. Like all previous "ebola cases in Belgium".

[airazurxtror]

http://www.visionguinee.info/2014/10/13 ... e-conakry/

The French Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine announced Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, that her country is considering the introduction of health checks on all passengers arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris by direct flights from Conakry.
This decision in France comes after those of the United States, Canada and Great Britain to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.
Among the countries affected by Ebola, Guinea is the only one connected to Paris by direct flights with Air France.

[sn26567]

Why One Airline Flies To West Africa Despite Ebola

Several major airlines including British Airways and Emirates have suspended service to Ebola-stricken regions of West Africa in response to a rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak, and Americans seem to agree with the service halts: 58% of people polled in a recent survey from NBC News want to ban all incoming flights from West African countries with Ebola.

But two airlines—Brussels and Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s largest airline—have continued serving Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Brussels Airlines says it has no plans to stop flying into Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia in the immediate future. “It is our humanitarian duty to operate there,” said Geert Sciot, a vice president at Brussels Airlines. “Without our fights it would become almost impossible for medical staff to reach the country.”

In recent days, health and governmental officials have warned that a shortage of flights limits the ability to get aid to the region and ultimately could worsen the global Ebola crisis.

Sciot, who said that the airline has made flights to Africa a focus of their service for decades, said that the World Health Organization and other health groups had directly asked senior airline leadership to continue service to West Africa. Health groups also partnered with Brussels Airlines to implement measures to ensure safety for the passengers and crew.

All passengers leaving the region have their temperatures taken and are screened with a questionnaire; patients with Ebola symptoms are not allowed to fly. Airline crew are not permitted to spend the night in at-risk locations, so they travel on a Brussels flight to Senegal when they need to stay overnight in West Africa.

“It’s absolutely safe for us as an airline, for our passengers and for our crew, to operate these flights,” said Sciot.

...

“For our image, I don’t think we benefit from this at all,” he said. “We get a lot media requests linked to a disease.”

http://time.com/3490961/brussels-airlines-ebola/

[sn26567]

Heathrow Ebola screening to start Tuesday

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has said Ebola screening will begin at Heathrow airport from Tuesday (October 14).

Passengers from ‘at-risk’ countries in West Africa will have their temperatures taken, answer a travel health questionnaire and will be visually assessed for illness.

Hunt confirmed that screenings will also take place at Gatwick airport and the Eurostar hub, St.Pancras in “the coming days”.

Anyone arriving in the country after travelling from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will be subject to the screening.

http://ht.ly/2OZXkH

[Passenger]

http://www.visionguinee.info/2014/10/13 ... e-conakry/

The French Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine announced Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, that her country is considering the introduction of health checks on all passengers arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris by direct flights from Conakry. This decision in France comes after those of the United States, Canada and Great Britain to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus. Among the countries affected by Ebola, Guinea is the only one connected to Paris by direct flights with Air France.

Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus.

90% of the cost of the outbreak arise from "irrational attempts of the public to avoid infection".

These are not quotes from me, but from WHO head Margaret Chan in an interview with the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29603818

[sean1982]

http://www.visionguinee.info/2014/10/13 ... e-conakry/

The French Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine announced Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, that her country is considering the introduction of health checks on all passengers arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris by direct flights from Conakry. This decision in France comes after those of the United States, Canada and Great Britain to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus. Among the countries affected by Ebola, Guinea is the only one connected to Paris by direct flights with Air France.

Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus.

90% of the cost of the outbreak arise from "irrational attempts of the public to avoid infection".

These are not quotes from me, but from WHO head Margaret Chan in an interview with the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29603818

Dr. Van Ranst is ditched after he contradicts your view? A few days ago you put your full trust in him

[Passenger]

Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus.

90% of the cost of the outbreak arise from "irrational attempts of the public to avoid infection".

These are not quotes from me, but from WHO head Margaret Chan in an interview with the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29603818

Dr. Van Ranst is ditched after he contradicts your view? A few days ago you put your full trust in him

The quotes I gave were from WHO head Chan, not from Van Ranst.

Just like dr Van Ranst, I believe that we will indeed have ebola cases in Belgium sooner or later (not an outbreak or epidemic - just isolated cases). And just like dr Van Ranst, I believe that we will have a real ebola outbreak in Belgium (and elsewhere in the world) IF ebola cannot be stopped in Africa. Therefore, just like dr Van Ranst and 95% of all other medical ebola experts, I believe that more efforts must be done to contain ebola - example sending more volunteers and more medical equipment.

[sn26567]

Gentlemen, please, let's stick to facts!

May I remind the wise words of Homo Aeroportus in a previous post:

Let’s stop spreading emotional reactions. Besides some being driven by the childish SN bashing (or FR for that matter) which only shows their limitations, it is plain irresponsible to fuel such irrational fears. Fear of the unknown.

I do take this seriously and I do fly to AFI quite often, but let's keep all this rational please.

Moderators will remove posts (as they have already done previously in this thread) if airline bashing and irrational fears fuelling do not stop.

See what's happening in the US already: the news there reports that 5 passengers with flu-like symptoms have disembarked in Boston from an Emirates flight, although none of them has been in an Ebola country. If everyone with a simple flu goes reported, all the world's newspapers together will not have enough pages...

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Ha ... 41921.html

[sn-remember]

So what happened with the nurse? It will be hard to tell but i'm sure it will become clear eventually, most likely she came in contact with the virus due not following procedures or due a simple accident. It's quite possible that she was struck with a needle, scratched herself by running against something wich contained the virus (a sharp side of the bed maybe as example)... There are just so maybe possibilities in which she could have got infected. Most of the time they are just wearing Tyvek suites to protect them which are more then suficient in 99,9% but unlike a HAZMAt suit, a Tyvek suit can easily be damaged when it comes in contact with a sharp object (Tyvek is hard to tear but easy to cut).

So IMHO there isn't any reason to panic. It's probably an unfortunate mishap and next time they'll take better precausions to prevent such things from happenening.

"Personal protective suits keep the virus off the body but removing them safely is a skill in itself. It is possible to transfer the virus from the outside of the suit on to the hands. From there it takes a moment’s thoughtlessness to touch the face. The virus enters the body through eyes, nose or mouth or any abrasion on the skin."
..
"It is shocking that workers in Spain and now Texas have contracted Ebola from patients they were treating."
..
From http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... ive-africa

[Passenger]

Dr. Van Ranst is ditched after he contradicts your view?

I've checked what dr Van Ranst really said on Monday 13th October 2014, because "contradicts your view" suggests that dr. Van Ranst wants Brussels Airlines to stop flying to West Africa. He did not. The only thing he suggested (about aviation & ebola) is a body temperature check for all passengers from all six Brussels Airlines flights coming from West Africa.

Radio interview with Flemish radio VRT Radio één, Voor De Dag - see audio link "Van Ranst":
http://www.radio1.be/programmas/de-ocht ... rgen-maken

Online article VRT, deredactie.be:
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/buite ... =1.2117643

Aan de andere kant zijn er nog wel een aantal maatregelen die zich opdringen, zoals de temperatuurcontrole in de luchthaven bij de vluchten die uit Monrovia, Conakry en Freetown landen in Zaventem. Dat is niet gek moeilijk, dat zijn maar zes vluchten per week. Andere landen doen dat ook, en dat lijkt ook een goede maatregel... De Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie heeft zich nog niet uitgesproken over de op te leggen maatregelen. Op dit moment is de Wereldgezondheidsorganisatie nog aan het aarzelen of dat nodig is, maar we zien dat verschillende landen haasje-over spelen, zoals het Verenigd Koninkrijk of de Verenigde Staten... Wanneer er vluchten aankomen uit die landen, dan controleren ze die op temperatuur. dat is niet moeilijk, en dat gebeurt natuurlijk al bij het vertrek, maar het kan geen kwaad om dat acht uur later nog eens te doen, wanneer die mensen landen. Hij verwacht dan ook dat die controles er ook in ons land zullen komen. Het lijkt gezond verstand om zo'n maatregel te nemen. Dan zal dat uiteindelijk ook wel in België gebeuren. Persoonlijk vind ik ook dat dat nuttig zou zijn.

(end of quote from VRT deredactie.be)

Van Ranst also said that we have a new minister of Health since last Saturday, and that he thinks that she (= Maggie De Block) will indeed soon implement a temperature check for those arrivals from West Africa.

[sn-remember]

..
A contamination detection kit that would test effectively from the very start of the infection (symptomless phase) would be so welcome !! I presume some labs are currently working on that ... ?
..

It seems the test might be effective already at some point during the asymptomatic phase ..
Then why not consider already testing pax at risk at this posssible early stage ?
Interesting to have advice from a lab specialist here ..
http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/publicatio ... r-2014.pdf

[OO-ITR]

Info issued by Cdc Centre of desease control and prevention (US).

[Flanker2]

Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus.

90% of the cost of the outbreak arise from "irrational attempts of the public to avoid infection".

These are not quotes from me, but from WHO head Margaret Chan in an interview with the BBC:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29603818

By now, the total cases of infected people has probably reached over 30.000, of which only the symptomatic and confirmed ones are quarantined and reported. A lot of people are turned away and are spreading Ebola into the Ebola-3.

Once an epidemy reaches the thousands of infected people, it's very difficult to contain it.
The only way to do it, is to close borders while the affected regions, to avoid that new hotspots start spreading the disease all over the world.

What you are saying is that the U.K government is acting irrationally.

[FlightMate]

Dear SN26567,

I always though mods were doing a pretty good job.
I don't know which messages were or will be deleted, but I hope it won't come down to stupid censorship.

I hope you won't see airline bashing when it is criticizing of management's decision.
The SN brand and its workers always have my sympathy. I can't say the same for the decisions their management make.

According to recent polls, 60pc of the population is concerned or worried about a spread of the disease.
you can't blame half of the forumers (if the general population is accurately represented here) for sharing their concerns and giving their opinion.

I know the arguments here seem to run in circles. Nothing seems to convince one side or the other.
It would be nice to know the background of some of the forumers (management? Travel agents being worried for their business? But such is an anonymoud forum)
Nonetheless, I still appreciate the discussion.

[Flanker2]

Moderators will remove posts (as they have already done previously in this thread) if airline bashing and irrational fears fuelling do not stop.

See what's happening in the US already: the news there reports that 5 passengers with flu-like symptoms have disembarked in Boston from an Emirates flight, although none of them has been in an Ebola country. If everyone with a simple flu goes reported, all the world's newspapers together will not have enough pages...

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Ha ... 41921.html

We should also remove posts of people suggesting that SN's 6 weekly triangular service via DKR is the only way to get help to the Ebola countries, because that is even more irrational and just a big lie.

Fears of spreading through air services is pretty rational to me:
As the land boarders are closed, the only way for Ebola to expand geographically is through air services.
This is also proved by the fact that since almost 2 months, no new cases have been found in neighboring countries, but 2 cases outside the Ebola-3 have been caused by people being airlifted or transported commercially by air services.
The case in Nigeria reached Nigeria through commercial air service, the case in Senegal through ground but got caught quite easily as the boarders were monitored.

I think that there is no irrational fear here, there are only irrational excuses for continuing air services that are causing unnecessary costs to society, some in cash, some in lives.

[lumumba]

Moderators will remove posts (as they have already done previously in this thread) if airline bashing and irrational fears fuelling do not stop.

See what's happening in the US already: the news there reports that 5 passengers with flu-like symptoms have disembarked in Boston from an Emirates flight, although none of them has been in an Ebola country. If everyone with a simple flu goes reported, all the world's newspapers together will not have enough pages...

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Ha ... 41921.html

We should also remove posts of people suggesting that SN's 6 weekly triangular service via DKR is the only way to get help to the Ebola countries, because that is even more irrational and just a big lie.

Fears of spreading through air services is pretty rational to me:
As the land boarders are closed, the only way for Ebola to expand geographically is through air services.
This is also proved by the fact that since almost 2 months, no new cases have been found in neighboring countries, but 2 cases outside the Ebola-3 have been caused by people being airlifted or transported commercially by air services.
The case in Nigeria reached Nigeria through commercial air service, the case in Senegal through ground but got caught quite easily as the boarders were monitored.

I think that there is no irrational fear here, there are only irrational excuses for continuing air services that are causing unnecessary costs to society, some in cash, some in lives.

You can not put does country's in quarantine if you do not have regular flight's than you will have special cargo and military flight's.
The problem would be the same.
But what you want is to leave does country's in the shit.
That's not how the world goes.