Is Ebola making you think twice about travel?
Oct 9, 2014, 5:46 pm
#31
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Cancelling a trip to South Africa now would be like cancelling a trip to New York City because of an outbreak of disease in Morocco. It's the same distance. It's nuts.
Anyone truly worried about this (other than folks in West Africa and healthcare workers elsewhere who are treating the victims) needs to take a step back and THINK. You are being irrational. There is no real risk. I know it's sometimes hard to think like this, but you should really try. Travel inherently involves some risk: heck, hundreds of people die in America everyday from car accidents. The odds that you will be the first traveler killed by ebola are infinitesimal; it's right up there with being abducted by aliens.
Anyone truly worried about this (other than folks in West Africa and healthcare workers elsewhere who are treating the victims) needs to take a step back and THINK. You are being irrational. There is no real risk. I know it's sometimes hard to think like this, but you should really try. Travel inherently involves some risk: heck, hundreds of people die in America everyday from car accidents. The odds that you will be the first traveler killed by ebola are infinitesimal; it's right up there with being abducted by aliens.
Oct 9, 2014, 5:50 pm
#32
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Parents and sis in Macedonia(ze motherland) on Vacay, about to tell them to checked up. Interesting fact- when I arrived in Skopje this summer beginning of August no Ebola awareness pamphlets were out. After doing a short trip to IST and arrived mid august at SKP, Government had put ebola pamphlets at passport check up. Ebola epidemic mustve picked up mid August and now its just growing at an astounding rate.
Oct 9, 2014, 5:58 pm
#33
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Parents and sis in Macedonia(ze motherland) on Vacay, about to tell them to checked up. Interesting fact- when I arrived in Skopje this summer beginning of August no Ebola awareness pamphlets were out. After doing a short trip to IST and arrived mid august at SKP, Government had put ebola pamphlets at passport check up. Ebola epidemic mustve picked up mid August and now its just growing at an astounding rate.
BTW, so far there is only one person in the entire world outside of West Africa who has contracted ebola. And she was a nurse's aide changing the diaper of an ebola victim. That's the risk we're dealing with here, folks.
Oct 9, 2014, 6:01 pm
#34
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I am researching flight costs to Tanzania and then South Africa for next summer for myself and the whole family. There are some outstanding deals out there right now, probably aided by the Ebola epidemic. But realistically, only a couple thousand people have died... and of all the ways to die in Africa, Ebola isn't even remotely the most common.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf
At 3,865 deaths primarily in West Africa, Ebola probably isn't even in the top 100 causes of death let alone the top 10. We are facing an epidemic all right -- of media-induced hysteria!
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf
At 3,865 deaths primarily in West Africa, Ebola probably isn't even in the top 100 causes of death let alone the top 10. We are facing an epidemic all right -- of media-induced hysteria!
Oct 9, 2014, 6:02 pm
#35
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No impact on my travel plans.
I'm more worried about knee jerk overreactions (e.g. if US CBP decides to quarantine an entire flight because someone onboard has the flu) than the infinitesimal risk of exposure.
I'm more worried about knee jerk overreactions (e.g. if US CBP decides to quarantine an entire flight because someone onboard has the flu) than the infinitesimal risk of exposure.
Oct 9, 2014, 6:03 pm
#36
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It is relatively early stages of the outbreak - if not contained cases grow exponentially.
Oct 9, 2014, 7:34 pm
#39
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Oct 9, 2014, 7:39 pm
#40
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Oct 9, 2014, 7:50 pm
#41
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What the heck? I guess anything is possible, but I'd bet there's no ebola in Macedonia. It's just another false alarm. Let your family vacation in peace.
BTW, so far there is only one person in the entire world outside of West Africa who has contracted ebola. And she was a nurse's aide changing the diaper of an ebola victim. That's the risk we're dealing with here, folks.
BTW, so far there is only one person in the entire world outside of West Africa who has contracted ebola. And she was a nurse's aide changing the diaper of an ebola victim. That's the risk we're dealing with here, folks.
Oct 9, 2014, 8:15 pm
#42
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Parents and sis in Macedonia(ze motherland) on Vacay, about to tell them to checked up. Interesting fact- when I arrived in Skopje this summer beginning of August no Ebola awareness pamphlets were out. After doing a short trip to IST and arrived mid august at SKP, Government had put ebola pamphlets at passport check up. Ebola epidemic mustve picked up mid August and now its just growing at an astounding rate.
Oct 9, 2014, 8:26 pm
#43
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If I thought about the possibility of disease, accidents, violent crime, abduction etc. every time I stepped on a plane to a foreign land, I would never travel. I leave for Australia in a little over a week, no qualms. Ebola is a real issue but in the grand scheme of things, I'm more likely to get into a car accident than contract the disease in my current circumstances.
Oct 9, 2014, 8:37 pm
#44
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Thanks iahphx for being another voice of reason here. Ebola is a horrible disease, no doubt about it. However, it is comparatively difficult to contract and those who are contagious are both obviously sick and incapable of traveling long distances. It isn't just coincidence that most of those who get the disease are caregivers, both professional and non-professional, and people who handle the dead bodies of victims. They are the ones who come into contact with the disease at is most contagious. If you aren't the direct caregiver of someone who has Ebola, the risk is significantly diminished, even if you have encountered someone with Ebola, and the likelihood of you encountering someone with Ebola outside of just 3 countries is vanishingly small.
I'm particularly concerned about the Dallas family due to the seeming incompetence of the hospital staff in sending the victim home when he first reported with the ebola symptoms. Logic suggests he might have been contagious during that time he returned to the apartment. So if that family doesn't contract ebola, it's incredibly unlikely that anyone who has mere "casual contact" with an ebola victim would catch the disease in the developed world.
Oct 9, 2014, 8:45 pm
#45
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In a survey conducted by NBC News, 58% of (U.S.-based) respondents supported banning all flights to the U.S. from Ebola-affected countries.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...278640701.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...278640701.html