Aviation and the Ebola epidemic in West-Africa

[Flanker2]

The latest comments on hln.be:

jef
Wanneer gaat men BA verplichten van te stoppen met vluchten op de risico landen? Wanneer gaat Zaventhem maatregelen nemen en koorts meten, wanneer gaat de regering maatregelen verplicht opleggen? Wanneer?

Bergliefhebber
Kan de verantwoordelijke minister voor Verkeer, Transport Brussels Airlines eens niet tot de orde roepen: stoppen met naar ginder te vliegen of anders licentie kwijt. Punt gedaan. Maar ja, het is een publiek geheim dat B.A. . op de rand van het bankroet staat.

kelwau
Ik begrijp niet dat er blijft gevlogen worden op landen waar reeds ebola werd vastgesteld

Billie01
Natuurlijk doet Belgie weer niets. Ten tijde van Tsernobyl was hier ook alles ok. Ons Miet wou ook paniek vermijden.

Yorgi Frankiev
Ik vind Ebola een bedreiging maar een epidemie is hier uitgesloten. Met andere woorden: de impact van een griep is groter voor de bevolking. Ik stel voor de passagiersvluchten van en naar Afrika stop te zetten, quarantaine in te stellen, hulp te bieden waar nodig en verder de patiënten laten uitzieken.

2 possibilities:

Either the whole world is crazy and stupid to panick for this small and innocent disease that has killed more people than 9/11 in less than 6 months,
OR
Belgian politicians, SN management, SN crews who accept to fly there, and some Luchtzak members are not in touch with reality.

With no end in sight, and exponential growth of cases already started, which one is it?

[sn26567]

I didn't see the "irrational fear fuelling" much on this forum.

Reporting, like HLN, every person that sneezes on a plane as being suspected of Ebola is fuelling irrational fear. Reproducing HLN's prose in bold characters in this forum is also fuelling irrational fear. The comments on HLN's article result largely from the irrational fear that they are distilling among the population. Journalists should inform their readers in a serious, well-documented way, which is visibly not the case in HLN. The word Ebola should never ever have been pronounced in the article about the JFK-BRU flight.

[Passenger]

And another reply on HLN.be forum:

"...Mijn nonkel zat op die vlucht. Het verhaal is deels waar. Echter kwam het bloed van zijn ellebogen en niet van zijn benen. Er werden wonden vastgesteld, vermoedelijk van een valpartij ofzo. Er bevonden zich trouwens 2 dokters aan boord. Van paniek was nooit sprake. De vlucht bleek rustig voor de rest. Er wordt te snel overdreven gereageerd van zodra een zwarte persoon ook maar eenmalig kucht..."

Translated:

My uncle was on that flight. The story is only partially true. The blood f.e. came from his elbows, and not from his knees. Some wounds were visible, apparently from a previous fall. There were two doctors onboard and there never was any panic. Flight remained calm. People are overreacting when a black person dears to cough, even just once".

[sn26567]

I didn't know that posting headline news from the biggest online news outlet and providing a translation is grounds for moderation.

Your post was not moderated. But as I said in my previous message, insisting on HLN's news to be of capital importance by quoting it in bold characters, when their goal is only to sell paper by scaremongering the population is putting oneself at the same level of low-key journalism.

[sn26567]

Ebola screening begins at Heathrow airport

Passengers arriving at Heathrow airport from Ebola-affected countries have been screened by health officials.

The government said "a few passengers" had their temperatures checked and filled in a health questionnaire at Terminal 1 on Tuesday. Screening will be extended to Heathrow's other terminals by the end of the week, and Gatwick airport and Eurostar next week.

The measures are set to cost £9m over the next six months.

The first flight subjected to the screening left Liberia for Brussels on Monday night, with transfers coming into Heathrow at 09:30 BST on Tuesday.

High-risk passengers were flagged up to border control and passed on to health workers from Public Health England who then carried out the actual screening.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29616724

[Passenger]

Strange : no one from the ebola watchers found it relevant to post that there was another ebola alert at Boston yesterday. Not from a Brussels Airlines flight though, but an Emirates flight Dubai-Boston...

http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/c ... -uit-dubai

Another example of what Margaret Chan (WHO director) said to the BBC recently: "Rumours and panic are spreading faster than the virus."

[sn26567]

Strange : no one from the ebola watchers found it relevant to post that there was another ebola alert at Boston yesterday. Not from a Brussels Airlines flight though, but an Emirates flight Dubai-Boston...

http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/c ... -uit-dubai

It was already mentioned at the end of my above post yesterday: https://www.aviation24.be/forums/viewtopic ... 80#p306930

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

[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, or if it's only malaria.

It's no ebola, lab tests in Hamburg have revealed.

http://nieuws.vtm.be/binnenland/112135- ... -met-ebola

[Flanker2]

I didn't see the "irrational fear fuelling" much on this forum.

Reporting, like HLN, every person that sneezes on a plane as being suspected of Ebola is fuelling irrational fear. Reproducing HLN's prose in bold characters in this forum is also fuelling irrational fear. The comments on HLN's article result largely from the irrational fear that they are distilling among the population. Journalists should inform their readers in a serious, well-documented way, which is visibly not the case in HLN. The word Ebola should never ever have been pronounced in the article about the JFK-BRU flight.

You should listen to yourself. The UK government are radically showing their discontent with Brussels Airlines by literally waiting for their Ebola passengers at LHR, MAN and BHX and clearly refusing the resumption of direct flights to the Ebola-3,

Tell me, is that fear mongering? Who does the UK government sell its newspapers to?

We need to end this madness and that's clearly what the majority of people in Belgium and around the world want.

[Flanker2]

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.

It's no ebola, lab tests in Hamburg have revealed.

http://nieuws.vtm.be/binnenland/112135- ... -met-ebola

Japan has a 30 minute lab test, experimental medicine available and 47 hospitals across the country on high alert training their staff on quarantine protocols. The border quarantine is staffed and they look at you very suspiciously, ready to stop you at any suspicious sign.

In the meanwhile, Belgium sends its lab tests to Hamburg for a result within 48 hours.
Belgium is not ready for Ebola, believe me.

[Passenger]

We need to end this madness and that's clearly what the majority of people in Belgium and around the world want. Is Belgium a democracy or is it a pretend-democracy...

If you call the majority of the forum posters on HLN.be "the majority of people in Belgium and around the world", I agree. No, let's remain serious shall we? Democracy = people vote, hence the result of elections count. We have a democratic elected government with Laurette Onkelincx minister of Health till last Friday, and Maggie De Block minister of Health since last Saturday. De Bock is also a medical doctor, so trust she's will very soon decide on ebola.

And about your beloved HLN.be forum: I love that also, because it's amazing to read how naive some people react. Examples:

"Als ze nu eens zouden stoppen met held te spelen in die besmette landen, en de mensen daar gewoon binnen hun eigen dorpje laten, dan kan zoiets toch niet verspreiden".
Translated: We should stop playing hero in those infected countries and keep those people locked in their own village. Ebola will then not spread.

"Het is hoog tijd dat men de besmette Afrikaanse landen in quarantaine plaatst".
Translated: It's time to put all infected African countries in quarantaine.

[sn26567]

The UK government are radically showing their discontent with Brussels Airlines by literally waiting for their Ebola passengers at LHR, MAN and BHX and clearly refusing the resumption of direct flights to the Ebola-3,

Tell me, is that fear mongering? Who does the UK government sell its newspapers to?

Show me one sentence in the ruling of the British Government where Brussels Airlines is mentioned. You will not find one. The British Government is only aiming at passengers coming from Ebola countries, whatever their means of transportation. Citing Brussels Airlines is 1°) SN bashing 2°) contributing to the fearmongering among their passengers.

[nordikcam]

The UK government are radically showing their discontent with Brussels Airlines by literally waiting for their Ebola passengers at LHR, MAN and BHX and clearly refusing the resumption of direct flights to the Ebola-3,

Tell me, is that fear mongering? Who does the UK government sell its newspapers to?

Show me one sentence in the ruling of the British Government where Brussels Airlines is mentioned. You will not find one. The British Government is only aiming at passengers coming from Ebola countries, whatever their means of transportation. Citing Brussels Airlines is 1°) SN bashing 2°) contributing to the fearmongering among their passengers.

I Wonder for who Flanker2 is working ?

[Homo Aeroportus]

Meanwhile, …
The humanitarian relief & health operations continue in West Africa (epidemiological week 41).
This involves thousands of personnel including hundreds of foreign health care workers, e.g. a multidisciplinary team of 165 Cubans arrived in Sierra Leone last week. Large quantities of material such as PPE, beds, tents, disinfecting agents, … (+6000m³ since early September) also need to be transported.

Air transport is organized within the three countries and with the outside world.
As from this week, the schedule is as follows :

Commercial Passenger Airline Schedules :
To/from ROB : Brussels Airlines (Mon, Fri) and RAM (Mon, Wed, Fri)
To/from FNA : BruAir (Wed, Sun) and RAM (Mon, Fri, Sun)
To/from CKY : AF (daily), BruAir (Wed, Sun), and RAM (Wed, Fri, Sun).

UNHAS intra-theatre Flights :
19-seat Beech 1900 based in Conakry :
Mondays & Wednesdays : CKY – Kissidougou (GUKU) – Nzerekore (GUNZ) – CKY
Tuesdays & Fridays : CKY – ROB – Foya (GLFO) – Voinjama (GLVA) – ROB – CKY
Saturdays : CKY – GUKU – GUNZ – CKY

Helicopter (type uknwn) 9 pax or 1.1 MT, based in ROB :
Mondays & Wednesdays : ROB – Phebe Hospital – ROB – Cuttington University – ROB
Tuesdays & Thursdays : ROB – GLFO – GLVA – ROB
Fridays : ROB – Bo (GFBO) – Kenema (GFKE) – ROB


External Links, UNHAS and UNMIL :
Boeing 737, 110 Pax - 8MT, based in ACC :
ACC – ROB – ACC, Sun & Fri

CRJ200, 50 Pax, based in DKR :
Mondays & Fridays : DKR – CKY – FNA – ROB – FNA – CKY – DKR
Wednesdays : DKR – ACC – ROB – FNA – CKY – DKR


The European Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) will facilitate the transportation of relief items to West Africa.
€1 million will be allocated to UNICEF, enabling 3 B747 cargo planes to transport vital material to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The first plane took-off on Friday 10, carrying 100MT of emergency equipment from AMS to FNA.
Another €3 million will help in the setting up of a medical evacuation system that will enable international workers in West Africa diagnosed with the EVD to be evacuated in less than 48 hours by plane to hospitals within Europe that are equipped to deal with the disease.

Sources : EU, WHO, UNHAS, WFP Logistic Cluster.

Hats off to all those involved on the field. They fight the battle and deserve our respect.

"Lock them all up there and let them die" or other bar conversation is plainly disgusting besides being immature.

H.A.

[sn26567]

Thanks, Homo Aeroportus, for this very positive contribution to this thread.

[airazurxtror]

Man in Belleville, Ont., awaiting results of Ebola test was member of Canadian Forces air crew that delivered face shields to Sierra Leone - @CBCAlerts

[airazurxtror]

I Wonder for who Flanker2 is working ?

Are you unable to grasp that one can state one's own opinion here, without "working" for anybody ?
If you deem it impossible, who do you work for ?

[Passenger]

Thanks, Homo Aeroportus, for this very positive contribution to this thread.

Agree !

[UAE777]

Think about this for a second:
Flanker2 probably spends a lot of time posting on hln too, or do you really think that somebody as obsessed with this topic can refrain from posting his opinions there and limits himself to just reading along and quoting from it here? Of course not! That's not his style, is it?
Flanker2 always needs to have the last word like a real know-all, so he most probably quoted himself already quite a few times here, thus happily cross feeding this topic by first delivering exactly the required content to support his view on hln and then quote from it here to make a point.

[b-west]

Don't... Feed.. The troll...