A friend and co-worker is visiting his parents in Ghana right now – told him enjoy his probing…
Clearly, we need a logo for shirts and stickers that can be given to anyone suspected of being exposed/infected:
I traveled through a few airports in Mexico during the last influenza scare. Someone had landed a contract to point an IR camera at arriving passengers’ faces, the idea being to find people with high temperatures. An excellent business opportunity.
This reminds me of the SARS scare back in the day.
I can’t say this is either unexpected or unreasonable. Those are the 5 biggest international airports in the U.S. with daily flights from western Africa. We’ve got enough things to hate about airport security, but this isn’t one of them.
But then, I remember when you couldn’t bring a pet to Britain unless you put them through 6 months of quarantine, because the (very big) island had never had a case of rabies. The Chunnel changed that ruling, I believe.
I’m in Ghana too at the moment. No reported cases here…yet. Certainly lots of awareness and information around.
I am most curious about when ALL flights out of these countries would be completely halted.
The doofus is already calling for it:
Sen. Ted Cruz Says US Should Block Commercial Flights to West Af - kcentv.com - KCEN HD - Waco, Temple, and Killeen
I’ve just gotten back from a meeting with someone who retired from the medical profession, who was not impressed with the idea of airports being able to adequately screen incoming passengers. For example, taking Advil, Motrin, or aspirin would be enough to get past the fever check, and with a 6-day incubation period, a person could easily be infected and yet exhibit no symptoms yet. So, I guess it’s simply security theater after all.
People used to take these drugs when they were traveling during the Bird Flu Scare, few years ago. Precisely to avoid airport harassment.
Similarly, the anxiety-signs based behavioral “security” observing can be quite well beaten with e.g. benzodiazepins.
Many, many things lack the efficacy one might hope for. This doesn’t mean they’re all useless or theatrical.
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