Following the sad death of its first Ebola case, Mali's President has said he will not close his nation's border with Guinea, because "the incident showed it was impossible to completely seal his country."
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Mali's neighbors, on the other hand, are shutting borders, as Mauritania tries not to become Africa's 7th Ebola-infected country. This brings, according to The WHO [6], the number of cases of Ebola to 10,141 with 4,922 dead (so far).
[7]
Americans should not worry though, for the 2nd week in a row, President Obama devoted his address to the subject of Ebola, explaining "basic facts" of how difficult it is to catch (despite the need to enforce mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers) and in 'USA USA USA'-esque language, explains how "Americans can beat" the deadly virus.
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As Reuters reports, [8] the death of Mali's first Ebola case will not prompt its to close its borders...
Mali will not close its border with neighbouring Guinea after a two-year-old girl infected with Ebola was brought across the frontier by her grandmother and died in Mali this week, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Saturday.
The girl travelled hundreds of kilometres through Mali - including a stop in the capital Bamako - on public transport, potentially exposing many people to the virus, before she died in the western town of Kayes on Friday.
Malian authorities have isolated 43 people, including 10 health care workers who had contact with the child in the town of Kayes, where she was taken for treatment, the W.H.O. said.
Keita said that the incident showed it was impossible to completely seal his country off from Ebola in neighbouring Guinea but said he remained calm as the girl's journey and potential contacts had already been traced.
"Guinea is Mali's neighbour. We have a shared border that we did not close and we will not close," he told France's RFI radio station.
But Mauritania closed its border with Mali... (via Xinhua)
Mauritania has closed its border with Mali, where an Ebola death was confirmed in the border area this week, a local health official told Xinhua on Saturday.
"The authorities of Nouakchott gave instruction to conduct the closing of the all terrestrial points of passage situated on the border," said Dr Limam Deddeh, physician chief of the border city of Kobonni.
The border closure, which came after the first confirmed Ebola death in Mali, was meant to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus to the local population, said the doctor.
But Americans should not worry... President Obama (and his new Czar) are "focused" on the fight against Ebola and for the 2nd week in a row, makes his weekly address about the deadly virus (which is not very contagious and nothing to be alarme about - aside from the need to mandatorily quarantine any healthcare worker entering the US)...
Having explained the "basic facts" of how difficult it is to catch (despite the need to enforce mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers), dismissing Rep. Peter King's warnings [9]...
Rep. Peter King believes Ebola may be more of a threat than doctors are telling the public.
In an interview with Long Island News Radio last week, the New York Republican expressed his concern that the virus has mutated and become airborne, according to BuzzFeed.
“You know my attitude was it’s important not to create a panic and it’s important not to overreact and the doctors were absolutely certain that this can not be transmitted and it was not airborne and yet we find out the people who have contracted it were wearing all protective gear,” King said.
King used the two nurses who were stricken with Ebola after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the U.S., as a prime example of how doctors could be wrong about the way the virus is spread.
“Listen, I don’t blame doctors or the medical profession for not being up to date on the latest mutation,” King said.
“I mean, they should try to be and they should work at it but less I think they should be less definite when they make these pronouncements. That there is absolutely nothing to worry about, this can’t be transmitted airborne, that there’s nothing to worry about.”
His bottom line: Take the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s warnings about Ebola — that it is only transmitted through bodily fluids — with a grain of salt.
...and in 'USA USA USA'-esque language, Obama explains how "Americans can beat" the deadly virus.
