Aviation and the Ebola epidemic in West-Africa

[Passenger]

I don't know how the French press reported about the news that it wasn't ebola, but coverage in the Flemish press yesterday evening and this morning was about 0,1% of the dramatic "ebola case in Brussel" they've published yesterday morning. Exception though: De Standaard and VRT - they announced the result of the ebola test as top news.

Couldn't resist to post this reaction from a guy called Davy on VTM's forum: "...je kan niet voor zigtteg genoeg zijn als het om de ziektte eboola gaat want je weet nooit van waar die mensen komen..." Translated, it would be something like this: "... one cannot be prue ddeand enough when it's about the ilnesc eboola because you never know where those people are coming from..."

[sean1982]

And because someone doesnt have the ability to write correctly (social or educational background?) he/she is not entitled to an opinion?
This is a person that is concerned about a disease that they probably don't understand well. Educating them would be better iso stigmatizing them!

[jan_olieslagers]

To have an opinion is one thing. To express it is another.
Then again, who cares about opinions? Opinions are cheap, and plenty, and everybody is trying to sell you theirs.

[Passenger]

People like you make me sick

Hope it's not ebola, but the Institute of Tropical Medecine in Antwerp can test your blood within a few hours.

[jan_olieslagers]

But beware of the "false friends":
sick ==> misselijk
ill ==> ziek

[Passenger]

But beware of the "false friends":
sick ==> misselijk
ill ==> ziek

Yep, but they both cause the same ebola symptom (kotsen and overgeven ).

[MD-11forever]

Couldn't resist to post this reaction from a guy called Davy on VTM's forum:

I fail to see the relevance of referring to forums on news sites all the time.
What exactly is the added value to the topic here on luchtzak? I agree with the moderators that we should stick to facts.
Also, you can make a billion references, and you can always find an opinion that will prove your point.
Finally, I thought that the posts on luchtzak should always be respectful to others, i.e. members and non-members?

[Passenger]

Is there perhaps a possibility that someone tells why the press gave no attention to the announcement that the passenger had no ebola, while the "ebola alert" was spread out as top news during the whole day?

I don't know how the French press reported about the news that it wasn't ebola, but coverage in the Flemish press yesterday evening and this morning was about 0,1% of the dramatic "ebola case in Brussel" they've published yesterday morning. Exception though: De Standaard and VRT - they announced the result of the ebola test as top news.

[Passenger]

Allow me to remind some that it was not me who brought up the importance of those forum posts in this topic. It started with these:

A few comments on hln.be:

oktopatat
Slaap rustig verder alles is onder controle. Dat het virus in onze contreien uitbreekt, dat risico is volgens deze experten nagenoeg onbestaande en zie ...wie had dat nu gedacht plots is zo'n expert ondanks alle voorzorgsmaatregelen zelf besmet. Maar slaap rustig verder hoor alles is onder controle....blijf lekker heen en weer vliegen naar besmette gebieden, zolang het maar opbrengt en je kan de goegemeente wijsmaken dat er geen risico is ? Kassa kassa

Hendrikcxm
Ik weet in elk geval dat ik nooit meer van mijn leven in een vliegtuig van SN Brussel Airlines zal stappen.

and

OO-ITR, hln.be is the largest news outlet in Belgium.
So if most people there don't agree with SN/government, it is a reference IMO.
How else do you suggest we pulse Belgium's opinions? By setting up a poll on SN fan forum luchtzak.be

and

OK, everybody has now clearly understood that you prefer what the readers of HLN write in that paper's forum to the advice and opinion of worldwide recognised specialists.

It's also the opinion of the readers of "Le Soir" :
http://www.lesoir.be/reactions/toutes/682962/0/0

Why not acknowledge that it is the opinion of a good many citizens, probably the majority in this country ? Belgium is not ruled by a few self-appointed "specialists".

[Flanker2]

Well MD-11forever, I fail to see the relevance of your post to this thread too.
When we see that over 90% of the many opinions of public news sites are pointing in one direction, it's no longer about finding an opinion that suits you best.
When over 90% of the people agree on as broad and general a subject, it's no longer a public opinion but common sense.

If anything, opinions on internet forums tend to be very far from common sense, as is in this case.
Fortunately we are not married with one another, so we don't have to agree with everything.

I don't mind Passenger sharing his opinion at all and I don't mind if he uses references at all, because that's what debate is about. It's not my job to change his opinion (that's his wife's problem), however I do read what he posts (for as long as it's reasonable), so I can reverify my position.
Also, I no longer answer many of his comments because we've been going around and round for long enough, so I limit myself to discussing if I find it relevant enough or something worth debating.

[Flanker2]

Is there perhaps a possibility that someone tells why the press gave no attention to the announcement that the passenger had no ebola, while the "ebola alert" was spread out as top news during the whole day?

Now some food for thought:

Given the Belgian government's protective attitude towards SN against Ebola, if a pax did suddenly show Ebola symptoms on an SN flight, would the government come forward to say that the pax does indeed have Ebola?

Consider the fact that the release of that information could cost SN millions of euro's and bring it to its knees.
Are 2500 direct jobs and perhaps twice that many actual jobs worth releasing that information, given that it's unlikely that there would be an effect on the rest of its population?

For me the Belgian government is no longer an impartial party in this. They have financial interests involved.
Worst case for them if the truth gets out in such a cover-up is that a few people in the government could be fired and will receive favors through their back-doors, but that's nothing next to those many jobs.

[sn26567]

I don't see the Belgian government interfering with Brussels Airlines (in which it has no share). Brussels Airlines makes its decisions independently, in the best interest of its passengers and shareholders. And for as far as I know, Brussels Airlines has acted correctly throughout the Ebola crisis: formation of staff, equipment on board, new procedures, etc.

But the government has an interest in Brussels Airport, and there, the government has asked its newly-appointed Ebola coordinator to devise a strategy on how to deal with real or suspected Ebola cases. And this has been done, in coordination with all interested parties, again in the best possible way.

Where is the problem?

[sn26567]

Ebola Outbreak: Air Transport A Critical Problem For Aid Workers

Aid workers fighting the Ebola outbreak on the ground in West Africa face exceedingly difficult working conditions, but now aid organizations say that simply getting them in the air has become a critical problem. Obstacles like quarantines and travel bans face many health care workers upon their return to their home countries, and it's also become difficult to arrange air travel to, from and within the countries at the heart of the epidemic.

“We tried booking her a ticket today and we couldn’t get a single seat for two weeks. They’re just full,” Jim Walker, deputy director for international projects at Samaritan’s Purse, said last week. “Right now Brussels Airlines has two flights every week and there’s one [Royal] Air Maroc flight occasionally. And that impacts our ability to get supplies in as well. For supplies, there’s no commercial air available. There’s only two commercial pallets per week.”

The Ebola outbreak is centered in some of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, nations with outdated airports and famously shoddy road networks. As Ebola has swept across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the importance of air travel has only grown as thousands of doctors, nurses, support personnel, governmental workers, journalists and U.S. service members have poured into the region.

Transporting that many bodies requires many flights to, from and within the impacted countries, and they all require a constant supply of equipment to do their work once they arrive, which requires even more air capability. But numerous airlines have halted all flights to and from Monrovia, Freetown and Conakry, putting a strain on the response effort.

http://www.ibtimes.com/ebola-outbreak-a ... rs-1718035

[Flanker2]

I think that SN, RAM and AF's continued operations are actually delaying government action to build an air bridge for Ebola personnel only.

Also, I don't think that the U.S.A.F. would refuse to carry relief workers to/from Africa on their C17 flights, as long as they ask for it.

Unfortunately, NGO's have internal policies, bureaucracy and a general tendency to not request such assistance from military or goverment organisations.

A good article on this problem:
http://www3.carleton.ca/csds/docs/occas ... sia-39.pdf

NGO's are complaining about issues that are caused by their own policies and agenda's, because there are already plenty of aerial resources at their disposal if they're really trying to save lives.

[teach]

Here's how this should go: you think banning the flights is a great idea? Great, the experts disagree. Are you an expert? No? Then your opinion on this matter is irrelevant, and dismissed.

Are you really so gullible ?
The "experts" are not infallible. They err and make mistakes like everybody else.
They can change opinion, they even can disagree between themselves. Some have a personal interest to protect. Most are afraid of not being "politically correct".
What they say is never to be taken as the Gospel - not by a long shot.

And what exactly is YOUR expertise to make you know better than them? If other experts, people with relevant expertise and knowledge were to disagree, you'd have a point.
When it's just people like you, who more than likely have NO expertise in the field, what they say is quite irrelevant.

'People are not infallible' does NOT mean we should take everything any schmuck with access to a computer thinks on the subject seriously.

[teach]

Now some food for thought:

Given the Belgian government's protective attitude towards SN against Ebola, if a pax did suddenly show Ebola symptoms on an SN flight, would the government come forward to say that the pax does indeed have Ebola?

Wow, we're now in tin-foil hat conspiracy theory land?

This just keeps getting better...

[Homo Aeroportus]

...
Unfortunately, NGO's have internal policies, bureaucracy and a general tendency to not request such assistance from military or goverment organisations..

Well, this may have to do with the fact that they are ... err... "Non Governmental Organizations" maybe?



H.A.

[Passenger]

World Health Organization, statistics & situation report 05 Nov 2014:

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/1066 ... 14_eng.pdf

[Passenger]

Editorial The Lancet: The medium and the message of Ebola

Media interest in the Ebola outbreak raging through west Africa has not, so far, been widely discussed or studied. In a world online, news is available 24/7. Coverage of Ebola has, understandably, been prolific, but sometimes also narrow and unbalanced. In the USA, for example, disproportionate airtime has been given to the nine confirmed American cases of Ebola compared with the massive human crisis unfolding in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. In even reputable news outlets—eg, CNN—a wall-to-wall “breaking news” culture has inevitably contributed to a sense of (unnecessary) domestic political panic...

Analysis of social media traffic also tells a story of unbalance. During October, there were 21 037 331 tweets about Ebola in the USA, compared with 13 480 about Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone combined. Yet around 5000 deaths and 14 000 cases in west Africa show that the epidemic continues to dominate at source in these countries, contrary to the media footprint of Ebola...

Continues here
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lance ... X/fulltext
and here
http://ebola.thelancet.com/
and here
https://storify.com/TheLancet/lancetebola-twitter-chat

[airazurxtror]

Editorial The Lancet: The medium and the message of Ebola
...
In the USA, for example, disproportionate airtime has been given to the nine confirmed American cases of Ebola compared with the massive human crisis unfolding in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
...

Quite normal.
A case in Belgium would be much more important (for Belgian) than ten thousands in Africa, and would command a much larger coverage in the newspapers and other medias.
Evidence : after the last week false alarm at Brussels Airport and its vast coverage in the press, not a word about Ebola anywhere in my newspaper today ...