Aviation and the Ebola epidemic in West-Africa

[Inquirer]

There is a difference between those West african countries with thousend of cases and a spreading epidemic - and a few Occidental countries with one or two cases.
I hope you are just provocative (for once) - because, if you don't understand that ...

So you are saying you are suddenly willing to take a calculated risk, because it's Spain and you don't think it will spread any further? That nurse was unisolated with fever for over a week, so who knows maybe she infected some colleagues, some friend, some relatives etc.

Food for thoughts: Ebola could be on a plane to BRU or CRL from MAD right now, you know, so why not force the operators of those flights to halt all their commercial operations immediately? Just because it's one/a few case(s) at present? So, when is it no longer acceptable then: 5, 10, 100? Why would you suddenly be willing to run the risk until the arbitrary threshold is reached? The risk is there from case one, in fact?

I've never been an isolationist, but I notice that a whole lot of isolationists may soon run into problems with their own conscience and that's not said to be provocative, but simply to show that humans are not very consequent beings.

[Flanker2]

IMO if it's confirmed that the nurse infected dozens of other people, as is evidenced by 3 more potential cases, for my part we can also isolate Spain until the thing is eradicated.

I'm now starting to seriously doubt the ability of European and North American health care systems to control even the smallest outbreaks. How could they if they can't even avoid infection from quarantined individuals?

I think that this case is an eye-opener, and I think that each and every case should be met with aggressive action. I don't care if borders need to be closed, they shouldn't take any chances with this thing.
Repatriation of infected individuals should be stopped, as this case shows that even that doesn't go without very real risk.

[b-west]

And the USA as well then I guess?

[Flanker2]

I'm not as concerned about the USA for now, especially as they have an organism called the CDC that take such matters seriously. They have already taken action on about 50 people with whom the guy had contact.

Do you think that European countries have such a well-organised organism in place? NO!
Each country have small department of health teams that can respond to small and localised outbreaks.

However, if the USA get sent new cases every week, with health care workers making mistakes over and over again, it could exceed the CDC's capability.
I think that Mr. Piot wil be surprised when he sees that Belgium will have a very hard time dealing with an outbreak caused by a single individual. It will happen in the coming weeks/months, so I'll be looking forward to it.

Having experienced the best Belgian hospitals from close-up and having seen their modus-operandis, I think that Belgium can not deal with Ebola outbreaks in the professional and sterile manner that is required.
Hospitals in Vlaanderen are like low-cost hotels with mediocre nurses and doctors in it, many of whom are Dutch ones who couldn't get a decent job back home, and a few excellent Belgian doctors.

[Inquirer]

for my part we can also isolate Spain until the thing is eradicated.

How many flights a day are there between Spain and Belgium? Any Avgeek who can tell by heart?
All I know is that pretty much every Belgian airline to the exception of VLM as well ryanair have loads of flights to Spain, and will propably not agree with you on this.

I think that Belgium can not deal with Ebola outbreaks in the professional and sterile manner that is required.

In which case you better call for Belgium itself to be quarantined then, which would mean the airports of BRU, OST and CRL need to get closed asap, all Belgian airlines will go bust while the 2 ryanair hubs in our country get dismanteled and everybody working there is sacked as our country is locked down for at least half a year, possibly longer.
I doubt you will find Sean or in fact many others here who so far have agreed with your isolationist approach, still standing behind you if you care to look over your sholder for a second, now.

[Flanker2]

for my part we can also isolate Spain until the thing is eradicated.

How many flights a day are there between Spain and Belgium? Any Avgeek who can tell by heart?
All I know is that pretty much every Belgian airline to the exception of VLM as well ryanair have loads of flights to Spain, and will propably not agree with you on this.

I think that Belgium can not deal with Ebola outbreaks in the professional and sterile manner that is required.

In which case you better call for Belgium itself to be quarantined then, which would mean the airports of BRU, OST and CRL need to get closed asap, all Belgian airlines will go bust while the 2 ryanair hubs in our country get dismanteled and everybody working there is sacked as our country is locked down for at least half a year, possibly longer.
I doubt you will find Sean or in fact many others here who so far have agreed with your isolationist approach, still standing behind you if you care to look over your sholder for a second, now.

If there is an uncontrolled outbreak, containment is the only option.
So if it comes to that, yes, Belgium should be isolated until ebola is contained.

Sure, there are dozens of flights, but with each flight there is a risk that it spreads elsewhere.
So what if airlines go bust? Should thousands of lives die or millions be put at risk so that 10.000 airline workers don't have to inconvenience themselves by staying home temporarily or even lookfor a new job in the worst case?

When are you people going to realise that this is a killer virus? This is not Hollywood where everything ends well. If this thing takes a turn for the worse, we're looking at mass casualties, perhaps partial extinction.

[airazurxtror]

Are the passengers coming from the infected countries checked for temperature at landing in Brussels ?
I was in a Brussels shop today when an African lady came in, saying loud and clear on her mobile that she had been delayed at the airport whilst they checked her body temp.
(that was not very wise from her : having heard that, nobody wanted to serve her, she was practically thrown out and disinfectant sprayed all over the shop - the Ebola panic is fast spreading out).

[sn26567]

Are the passengers coming from the infected countries checked for temperature at landing in Brussels ?

Why should they? They are checked at departure.

Another piece of information: under the Montreal Convention, which governs international flying, airlines are liable to pay compensation in the event of an accident, which includes transmission of a disease on board a plane. One more reason to check the passengers at departure, not after arrival.

[airazurxtror]

Are the passengers coming from the infected countries checked for temperature at landing in Brussels ?

Why should they? They are checked at departure.

They should because :
- the checks at departure are said not be 100% reliable
- a light temp at departure can be checked by a paracetamol pill
- a body temp can develop in flight

President Obama announced on Monday that the government would increase screening for the virus at airports both in the United States and in West Africa.
Mr. Obama made the announcement after being briefed in Washington by Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Obama called the fight against Ebola “a top national security priority,” but did not specify how screening would be changed. Dr. Frieden said that officials would explore a variety of options.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/us/eb ... .html?_r=0

[Passenger]

Dr. Marc Van Ranst, the Belgian medical expert for epidemics: "With a few 100 ebola cases in Africa, we won't have one ebola case in Belgium. However, with ten thousand or even more ebola cases in Africa, off course we'll have an ebola case in Belgium. Hoewever, it will never become an epidemic in Belgium".

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/video ... =1.2112776

Dr. Van Ranst:
http://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00015875

(I've just bet 5 Euro's on betonline.luchtzak.be that at least one Brussels Airlines basher here will say that prof. dr. Van Ranst is stupid and/or incompetent and/or naive).

[sn26567]

British Airways accused of hampering Ebola aid effort in west Africa
Agencies say suspension of flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia is causing travel problems and sending wrong message

Aid agencies fighting Ebola in west Africa say they are being hampered by the decision of British Airways to suspend flights to the region.

In August, BA announced it was halting flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia until December. It has now extended that suspension until the end of March.

Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors have been on the frontline of the epidemic from the start, and Save the Children, which will run a new treatment centre in Sierra Leone built by the UK military, said BA’s decision was causing them problems and sending the wrong message to the world and to people in the region.

Christopher Stokes, director of MSF in Brussels, said: “Airlines have shut down many flights and the unintended consequence has been to slow and hamper the relief effort, paradoxically increasing the risk of this epidemic spreading across countries in west Africa first, then potentially elsewhere. We have to stop Ebola at source and this means we have to be able to go there.”

More than 500 MSF volunteers have gone to the region, where international staff spend four to six weeks, to limit their exposure to the disease.

Save the Children has so far deployed 68 people to Sierra Leone and 40 to Liberia – including nurses, pharmacists, finance staff, psychologists, hygiene and sanitation experts, project managers and security managers – as well as equipment. It was vital to get those people, and more in the future, to the affected countries, said Gemma Parkin, of the charity.

“BA, in our view, could be a wonderful humanitarian air bridge,” she said. “What is odd is that the British government hasn’t stopped people coming back. It is a bit strange that BA should have taken this arbitrary stance.”

It is possible to reach Sierra Leone on other airlines, but it is slower and much less efficient. When Save the Children sent out a new financial officer for the region to manage the increase in its response, he spent 30 hours at Casablanca airport while travelling with Royal Air Maroc. “We don’t have the time to be spending 30 hours in Casablanca airport,” Parkin said.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... a-agencies

[sean1982]

(I've just bet 5 Euro's on betonline.luchtzak.be that at least one Brussels Airlines basher here will say that prof. dr. Van Ranst is stupid and/or incompetent and/or naive).

You still think this is about SN?? Talk about small minded

[sn-remember]

Dr. Marc Van Ranst, the Belgian medical expert for epidemics: "With a few 100 ebola cases in Africa, we won't have one ebola case in Belgium. However, with ten thousand or even more ebola cases in Africa, off course we'll have an ebola case in Belgium. Hoewever, it will never become an epidemic in Belgium".

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/video ... =1.2112776

Dr. Van Ranst:
http://www.kuleuven.be/wieiswie/en/person/00015875

(I've just bet 5 Euro's on betonline.luchtzak.be that at least one Brussels Airlines basher here will say that prof. dr. Van Ranst is stupid and/or incompetent and/or naive).

You have your 5 euro here ..
The epidemic is flaming and Belgium is in the foregound of the targetted countries ..
I would'nt like to be sitting right next to an infected pax. Or to infect a direct neighbour in case I am the one infected.
Screening at departure is not a guarantee as is screening at arrival although both should be toroughly performed.
I see the time when sn will need to stop serving the infected zone (cky,fna and rob) ..
However I agree a service link is still required to those zones, so IMHO if sn wants to keep the connection active, a buffer zone seems to me necessary .. inside the plane if no other possibility is available (before embarking if possible but I don't see how to efficiently implement that as it's not the airline's responsability to organize a sanitary quarantine)
Meaning no direct neighbour sitting around inside the plane.
The ticket price would therefore be a lot more costly. The crew also needs to take adequate prophilaxie measures.
Anyhow IMHO this epidemic should be treated far more seriously than currently done.
I think the alarm bell needs to be activated now.

[sn26567]

Not immediately aviation-related, but interesting reading about how Firestone (the rubber company) managed to control Ebola in its Liberia plant employing 8,500 people and catering to 80,000 employees and their families:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2 ... its-tracks

[Passenger]

Ebola Crisis: EU organises airlift operation to West Africa

The European Union is scaling up its response to the Ebola disease in West Africa with an airlift operation to the affected countries. The European Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) will facilitate the transportation of relief items to West Africa. In addition, the EU will fund and coordinate if necessary the evacuation of international staff from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

A quarter of the new €4 million funding will be allocated to UNICEF, enabling three Boeing 747 cargo planes to transport vital material to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The first plane will take-off on Friday, carrying 100 metric tons of emergency equipment from Amsterdam to Freetown, Sierra Leone. The supplies and equipment include personal protection equipment, including masks and gloves, as well as essential medicines and hygiene supplies.

In addition, the remaining €3 million will help in the setting up of a medical evacuation system, coordinated by the ERCC, that will enable international workers in West Africa diagnosed with the Ebola virus disease (EVD) to be evacuated in less than 48 hours by plane to hospitals within Europe that are equipped to deal with the disease.

This initiative is funded from €30 million in humanitarian aid announced by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, in New York last month during a High Level Meeting in response to the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.

"We are in a race against time to fight Ebola," said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian aid and Crisis Response. "The European Commission alone has so far pledged some €180 million to help the affected countries. Funding is crucial but far from enough. That is why, together with our member States, we have been mobilising in-kind assistance including medical equipment and personnel."

Tonio Borg, European Commissioner for Health, added: "To strengthen Europe's preparedness to handle Ebola, we have been mobilising solidarity inside the EU. We are working closely so that patients can be treated in an appropriate healthcare facility."

The ERCC is coordinating the transportation of aid, equipment and personnel to hotspots in the countries affected by the disease. European countries such as the UK, France, Austria and Belgium have already made use of the mechanism, providing field hospitals, ambulances, sanitation products, medical isolation equipment and experts to the affected region.

Background

The European Commission has been scaling up its response to the epidemic since March 2014 and has so far pledged €180 million to help the countries affected by the Ebola virus (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria). Humanitarian experts, mobile laboratories and teams of specialists from the European Mobile Laboratory project for dangerous infectious diseases have been deployed in the region, providing diagnostic support, monitoring the situation and liaising with partner organisations and local authorities. Funding will also cover the reinforcement of local and regional healthcare capacities and budget support to the affected countries.

The European Commission is also working closely with the EU Member States within the Health Security Committee to keep them informed about the latest developments and secure the synchronisation of measures. The Health Security Committee has produced advice for all travellers to the affected countries, available in all EU languages.

The European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (EUCPM) facilitates co-operation in disaster response, preparedness and prevention among 31 European states (EU-28 plus the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland and Norway). The European Commission manages the Mechanism through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre. Operating 24/7, the ERCC monitors risks and emergencies around the world and serves as an information and coordination hub during emergencies. Through the Civil Protection Mechanism, the Commission also provides financial support to transport operations.

For more information:

The European Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm

Website of EuropeAid Development and Cooperation DG:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm

Factsheet on the EU response to the Ebola epidemic:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/coun ... ola_en.pdf

The EU's response to the Ebola crisis (Speech by Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva at the European Parliament):
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SP ... 609_en.htm

Factsheet on the Union Civil Protection Mechanism:
http://ec.europa.eu/echo/files/aid/coun ... ion_en.pdf

(end of press release)

Source:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1108_en.htm

[Flanker2]

British Airways accused of hampering Ebola aid effort in west Africa
Agencies say suspension of flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia is causing travel problems and sending wrong message

Aid agencies fighting Ebola in west Africa say they are being hampered by the decision of British Airways to suspend flights to the region.

In August, BA announced it was halting flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia until December. It has now extended that suspension until the end of March.

Médecins Sans Frontières, whose volunteer doctors have been on the frontline of the epidemic from the start, and Save the Children, which will run a new treatment centre in Sierra Leone built by the UK military, said BA’s decision was causing them problems and sending the wrong message to the world and to people in the region.

Christopher Stokes, director of MSF in Brussels, said: “Airlines have shut down many flights and the unintended consequence has been to slow and hamper the relief effort, paradoxically increasing the risk of this epidemic spreading across countries in west Africa first, then potentially elsewhere. We have to stop Ebola at source and this means we have to be able to go there.”

More than 500 MSF volunteers have gone to the region, where international staff spend four to six weeks, to limit their exposure to the disease.

Save the Children has so far deployed 68 people to Sierra Leone and 40 to Liberia – including nurses, pharmacists, finance staff, psychologists, hygiene and sanitation experts, project managers and security managers – as well as equipment. It was vital to get those people, and more in the future, to the affected countries, said Gemma Parkin, of the charity.

“BA, in our view, could be a wonderful humanitarian air bridge,” she said. “What is odd is that the British government hasn’t stopped people coming back. It is a bit strange that BA should have taken this arbitrary stance.”

It is possible to reach Sierra Leone on other airlines, but it is slower and much less efficient. When Save the Children sent out a new financial officer for the region to manage the increase in its response, he spent 30 hours at Casablanca airport while travelling with Royal Air Maroc. “We don’t have the time to be spending 30 hours in Casablanca airport,” Parkin said.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/o ... a-agencies

These organisations have no shame and no brains.
It's not BA's responsibility to put its name at risk so MSF or Save the Children can travel cheap and conveniently to Ebola countries.
I don't understand why these organisations blame airlines rather than appealing to their governments for airlift capacity. Governments are accepting airlifting patients back to Europe, so why wouldn't they airlift aid and medical staff down there?

As Passenger posted, the EU has launched an airlift operation.
So there no longer is a need for SN or RAM to be down there.

[Flanker2]

Having experienced the best Belgian hospitals from close-up and having seen their modus-operandis, I think that Belgium can not deal with Ebola outbreaks in the professional and sterile manner that is required.
Hospitals in Vlaanderen are like low-cost hotels with mediocre nurses and doctors in it, many of whom are Dutch ones who couldn't get a decent job back home, and a few excellent Belgian doctors.

Confirming my fears, hospitals in Belgium are saying that they're ill-prepared to deal with an Ebola outbreak, with little support from the government. Procedures of the Health department are not realistic.
They're trying to prepare the best they can by themselves.

De ziekenhuizen die hier bij ons ebolapatiënten moeten opvangen, voelen zich aan hun lot overgelaten. De dokters weten niet bij wie ze met hun vragen terecht kunnen, en ze vinden dat de procedures van Volksgezondheid in de praktijk niet werken. Ze proberen zich dan maar zélf voor te bereiden op een uitbraak, zo goed en zo kwaad als het kan

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland ... uikt.dhtml

[airazurxtror]

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/fl ... k=main_nav

British Airways has suspended flights to and from Liberia and Sierra Leone until 31 March 2015 due to concerns about the public health situation in both countries.

Better safe than sorry.

The safety of our customers, crew and ground teams is always our top priority.

First things first.

[sn26567]

The safety of our customers, crew and ground teams is always our top priority.

Don't you think that Brussels Airlines has the same priorities and does all what is possible to safeguard the health of its crew and passengers? Has anyone been contaminated on an SN flight? And in addition SN adds a humanitarian touch by enabling medical teams and equipment to reach populations in dire need of such assistance.

[sean1982]

Infected? Not yet. Close calls? Yes
Humanitarian? Can be more safely and efficiently provided by relief flights.
The fact that you even think that measures are even possible on a simple commercial aircraft is beyond believe. That nurse in spain was working in the best protected area in spain and STILL she got infected. Im sure a simple handwash before serving meals will do