What precautions, if any, has or is your agency prepared to take to protect workers who may have been exposed to Ebola?

Over the coming weeks and months, many federal workers and military personnel will be involved in the fight to contain, then isolate and eliminate the disease.

President Barack Obama has OK’d the direct call-up of select National Guard and Reserve units. That could include units that specialize in engineering, medical service and even military police to provide security. It could, if the problem spreads and there are governmental breakdowns, also include civil affairs and other units.

In some parts of the country, half or more members of National Guard units are also federal civil servants or postal workers. Many have been on tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, including some missions in Africa and the gulf states.

In addition to the feds in uniform, many civil servants in health and related fields will likely be involved — in some cases directly — with Ebola patients. One, a nurse from Dallas, was airlifted to the D.C. area Thursday night in a special charter flight to Frederick, Maryland . She was taken to a special isolation section at the National Institutes of Health just outside D.C. in Bethesda, Maryland.

ICE and CBP personnel at Dulles (IAD) airport in nearby Virginia are also part of the screening process that is taking place at four other international airports. They are wearing partial face mask protectors, and gloves. But they’ve got to wonder if that is good enough.

The argument against banning all travelers coming from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa is that people could fly to other cities — Brussels, London, Frankfurt or Madrid, then fly on to Washington, New York, Chicago or Atlanta. That would make them even more difficult to identify or screen. Or so the argument goes.

Politicians and public health officials are trying to walk a fine line between public hysteria and potentially dangerous apathy.

So what do feds (who are either in the trenches or about to be part of the fight) think?

A worker who lives in Alexandria, Virginia, asks “What is being done to protect the federal employees or contractors at NIH caring for the newly-arrived Ebola victim? Also, are there plans in place from the administration regarding any potential Ebola cases in D.C. and protecting federal employees?”

A woman whose grandson works at the NIH says what worries there is the don’t-know-what-we-don’t-know factor. “This reminds me of the time when Legionnaires disease hit the nation. I think it was Philadelphia at first. … Nobody knew anything about it. The same for AIDs in the 1980s. There was lots of misinformation at the time and nothing was done to stop its spread. Is this about to happen again?”

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID:

By Michael O’Connell

Bassetts Ice Cream reports that Vanilla ranks at the top of its list as the most popular flavor of ice cream the company sells, while Pomegranate Blueberry Chunk — in 43rd place — is the least popular flavor.

Source: Bassetts Ice Cream

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