Ebola patient’s family quarantined as officials search for possible exposures

The family of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan were legally quarantined Thursday after they did not comply with Dallas health officials requests that they stay home.
Doctors are taking the temperatures of four family members in the unit where Duncan was staying twice a day to monitor symptoms as part of the health surveillance efforts being led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local Dallas government.
“If people leave, even though they’re asymptomatic, if they’re not at home when we go out to do our surveillance test on them, then that defeats the purpose of that surveillance test and that endangers them … if they were to be infected, they need to know that as quickly as possible,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. “So it’s for their benefit and everyone else’s.”
Texas health officials said during a press conference Thursday that the family would be quarantined in their apartment unit for the next 20 days until the potential incubation period for Ebola is over.
Health officials widened their search Thursday to 100 individuals possibly exposed to the disease – tracing contacts of the patient and medical staff who initially treated him. Also on Thursday, officials said three more young children potentially had contact with Duncan, bringing the number of kids being monitored to eight.
“We’re going to break that risk down to high-risk, no-risk and low-risk, and that’s going to be the basis of our contact tracing,” said David Daigle, associate director for communications, public health preparedness and response at the CDC.
Daigle expressed concern about infection control at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where Duncan is currently in isolation, and said that a team was dispatched to conduct the same kind of contact tracing officials are doing in the local community.
Zachary Thompson, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services, tried to quell fears in the community of the virus spreading and stressed transparency during the investigation.
“A lot of the individuals that we come in contact with will not have any symptoms, they will not have any association other than the fact that someone said they were there, or they might have had contact,” Thompson said. “This is local public health surveillance at its best, in what we do day in and day out.”
Police were stationed at the Ivy Apartment complex where the family lives Thursday to keep the peace and assist residents and health officials in the community during the investigation.
“We want to make sure we create a calm and safe environment for [health officials] to do their work – that’s our primary focus.  We have had reverse 911 calls to all the residents … We’ve talked to them, we’ve explained what happened, and we’ve given them the option to call us back,” said Dallas city mayor, Mike Rawlings. ”If citizens have any questions, they need to call 311. We will be able to give them a full explanation of what’s happening and answer any questions that are challenging.”
Additional nurses and health professionals were called into schools where the five students that were potentially exposed to Ebola attended.
“Our nurses are making two rounds every school day to every classroom just to check to see if anyone has questions or if there are any symptoms,” said  Mike Miles, superintendent of Dallas Independent School District, adding that additional custodial staff was on hand to clean and disinfect the buildings the students attended. Miles stressed the fact that the potential for contamination in the schools was minimal, but said they were doing extra cleaning to take the possibility off the table.
The eight students in the potential contacts were enrolled in a homebound program where they will receive curricular and technology support to complete their coursework while they are out of school. Attendance at the five schools involved in the investigation was down 10 percent Thursday, but Miles said he expects it to go back up.
Sally Nuran, manager of the Ivy Apartments where Duncan was visiting family, said during a press conference Thursday that health officials alerted her of the Ebola case on her property late Monday night. She confirmed that the lease for that particular unit lists one adult and two children, but said she does not know how many people are currently occupying the space.
As part of the monitoring process, the CDC has quarantined the family inside the unit, with strict instructions not to leave the apartment or even step out on the porch, according to Nuran. The family was set to move out of the apartment when their lease expired on September 30.
According to Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of Texas Department of State Health Services, the family’s apartment will be cleaned by a cleaning company.
“The house conditions need to be improved,” Lakey said in a press conference Thursday. “We have been working to identify an entity that will go out and there and do cleaning— there has been hesitancy… but we have identified and that will take place today.”
Lakey also noted that there is a local law enforcement agent monitoring the apartment.
The complex is home to residents of many different nationalities and translators have been on hand to distribute information in at least eight different languages, according to Nuran, who said she’s working with the CDC and other government agencies to educate residents about the current situation.
Fliers were placed on residents’ doors in the apartment complex Wednesday night and more translated fliers will be handed out during a community meeting Thursday, according to Nuran, who said that language barriers have made it difficult to disseminate information. Nuran added that all common areas have been disinfected by the CDC.

White House Cartoon

Krauthammer: 'We have a presidency falling apart'

Charles Krauthammer said Wednesday on "Special Report With Bret Baier" that President Obama is dealing with a "crisis of competence," adding he believes Obama's presidency "is falling apart."
Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and a Fox News contributor, cited the scandals surrounding the IRS, the VA and the Secret Service as examples of problems plaguing the administration.
"All the institutions in the past you'd make a movie about," he said. "Secret Service is the hero ... all of these agencies we had trust in, under this administration are showing how bad the government is run. You combine them and you get a sense that things are out of control."
Krauthammer said Obama's policies have led to these various crises. 
"I think it is a sense in the country," he said. "Now we have a presidency that is falling apart. And it isn't as if it all happened at once."

Palestinians draft UN resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from West Bank, East Jerusalem

The Palestinians have drafted a United Nations resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem by November 2016 as part of a new push for independence and full U.N. recognition. 
The draft resolution, which was given to Fox News Wednesday by a diplomat who wished to remain anonymous, has not yet been shared with all of the Security Council's 15 members. Jordan, as the Arab Group's representative on the Security Council, would be charged with introducing the resolution. 
The resolution calls for Israel to return all territory seized since the 1967 Six-Day War, a condition that Israel has not agreed to in any of the recent U.S.-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has argued that ongoing rocket attacks from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, as well as Israel's relatively small amount of territory, make it too perilous for his government to accept a return to the pre-1967 borders. 
The draft calls for intensified efforts, including through negotiations, to reach a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and "a just resolution" of the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states and of the Palestinian refugee problem.
The Associated Press reported that Abbas told a meeting of the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on Wednesday evening that the draft was submitted last Friday "and we hope to get an answer within a month."
"Of course we are not sure whether the Security Council will agree on it or whether we will get the right number of countries on our side. But whatever will happen, we have something to say. We put it in writing and this is clear. We don't need to repeat it again," he said.
It is the first time that the U.S. has had to consider such a forceful draft Security Council resolution. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said on Tuesday that Washington’s position remains that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be reached through negotiations. Several Arab diplomats have told Fox News that they expect US opposition to the text. They say, however, that if Washington vetoes the resolution it will isolate the United States in world opinion. The United States is one of five permanent, veto-holding members of the Security Council.
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly last Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that he would ask the council to set a deadline for a pullout and dictate the ground rules for any further talks with Israel. Abbas also accused Israel of conducting a "war of genocide" in during the 50-day conflict in Gaza over the summer, a charge that drew a furious response from Netanyahu Monday. 
Decrying Hamas for its use of human shields and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians, Netanyahu said, addressing Abbas, "these are the war crimes committed by your Hamas partners in the national unity government which you head and you are responsible for. And these are the real war crimes you should have investigated, or spoken out against from this podium last week."

Hospital reportedly failed to follow protocol by releasing Ebola patient

Officials at a Dallas hospital apparently failed to follow federally issued guidelines last week when they sent home the patient later diagnosed with the first case of the Ebola virus on U.S. soil.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital late on the evening of Sept. 25 complaining of a fever and abdominal pain. When questioned by a nurse, Duncan admitted that he had been in Liberia as recently as the prior week. 
At that point, according to an Aug. 1 protocol issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Duncan should have been placed in an isolation unit and tested for Ebola immediately. However, the News reports that key medical personnel at the hospital were not told of Duncan's travel history, and he was given antibiotics and sent home, a decision that could have exposed dozens of people to the virus for several hours. 
Duncan's condition later worsened, and he returned to the hospital Sunday in an ambulance. At that point, the CDC protocol was followed. The Ebola diagnosis was confirmed by health officials Tuesday. 
Dr. Mark Lester, the southeast clinical leader for hospital parent company Texas Health Resources, acknowledged Wednesday that Duncan had voluntarily provided his travel history. However, Lester said, "that information was not fully disseminated." Lester did not say who he thought might be responsible for the miscommunication. 
Hospital officials defended the initial handling of Duncan, issuing a statement describing his fever as "low-grade," and insisting "his condition did not warrant admission." They added that they are still investigating why Duncan's travel history was not conveyed to the doctors who sent him home. Hospital epidemiologist Dr. Edward Goodman told the Associated Press that the patient did not show the riskier symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.
KDFW reported late Wednesday that Duncan's condition had been upgraded to serious. Goodman wouldn't comment on drugs being used to treat the patient, but he said that there isn't any more ZMapp available. ZMapp is an experimental drug that was used on two previous Ebola patients.
Meanwhile, a nine-member team of federal health officials has begun tracking anyone who had close contact with him after Duncan fell ill on Sept. 24. The group of 12 to 18 people included three members of the ambulance crew that took Duncan to the hospital and a group schoolchildren. They will be checked every day for 21 days, the disease's incubation period.
Neither the ambulance crew nor the children showed any symptoms and were being monitored at home. It was not clear how Duncan knew the children, but his sister told the AP he had been visiting with family, including two nephews.
The CDC sent a team to the airport in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, on Wednesday to make sure health officials there are screening passengers properly. All people traveling from the outbreak zone are supposed to be checked for fever and asked about their travel history before being allowed to leave. Plastic buckets filled with chlorinated water for hand-washing are present throughout the airport.
"There were no signs of any disease when the gentleman boarded the flight," said Dr. Tom Kenyon, director of the CDC's Center for Global Health. "This was not a failure of the screening process at the airport."
Since the man had no symptoms on the plane, the CDC stressed there is no risk to his fellow passengers.
The Dallas apartment complex where Duncan was believed to be staying was cordoned off Wednesday, and the management was turning away visitors. TV cameras lined the fence of the parking lot, and at least one helicopter hovered overhead.

Mom of Marine held in Mexico pleads with lawmakers, as attorney says release could come soon

The mother of the U.S. Marine imprisoned in Mexico after mistakenly crossing the border with three legally-registered guns told lawmakers Wednesday her son is rapidly deteriorating and pleaded with them to press for his return.

Jill Tahmooressi, whose 26-year-old son, Andrew, served two tours in Afghanistan, appeared before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee to push her case for the U.S. to pressure Mexico to release him. The condition of Tahmooressi, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his service, has deteriorated since he was locked up March 31 on gun charges.

“My son is despondent, without treatment, and he needs to be home,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

The longtime nurse, who lives in Weston, Fla., recounted several emotional calls from her son, including one from Afghanistan, where he told her about blacking out after an IED exploded near him. Upon returning home, Andrew Tahmooressi abandoned his dream of becoming a commercial pilot because, he told his mother, “I can’t concentrate on the academic work.”

Then, on March 31, he called her from a Mexican border checkpoint to say he was in trouble.

“Mom, I got lost; I made a wrong turn,” Jill Tahmooressi recounted her son saying. “I’m at the Mexican border. You need to know this because I’m surrounded by Mexican military.”

Hours later, in another call, he told her, “Mom, I’ve been arrested, please secure me an attorney.”

Appearing with the distraught mother before the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee were television personality and former Navy Lt. Commander Montel Williams, who is also a former Marine, and Pete Hegseth, the CEO of Concerned Veterans for America and a Fox News contributor.

“We know for a fact that A’s time in this prison has been worse than his time in both tours of combat,” Williams said. “How dare we, how dare we as a nation, hesitate to get that young man back?”

The hearing took place just hours after Tahmooressi’s attorney, Fernando Benitez, told Fox News he plans to rest his case today, possibly opening the door for Tahmooressi's release within a matter of weeks.

"We have more than enough for an acquittal,” Benitez said. He said a crucial development in the case came within recent days, when the prosecution acknowledged that Tahmooressi's PTSD may have played a role in the immediate aftermath of his detention. That stipulation could pave the way to Tahmooressi’s release on humanitarian grounds, he said.

Lawmakers said it is outrageous for a U.S. ally to hold an ailing American on gun charges that clearly stem from an honest mistake. Tahmooressi was in the San Diego area to get PTSD treatment, and living out of his pickup truck when he mistakenly crossed the border at a poorly marked checkpoint. He immediately declared that the guns were among all of his possessions in the truck, according to Benitez.

“As a direct result of his honorable service in Afghanistan, U.S. Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi now suffers from combat-related PTSD,” said Rep. Matt Salmon, R- Ariz. "Tragically, instead of receiving the treatment he needs, he is being held in a Mexican prison.

“Our war hero needs to come home,” he added.

Hegseth, a former infantry officer in the Army National Guard who served tours in Afghanistan, Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, said the administration needs to do more to bring Tahmooressi home.

“Shame on anyone, at home or abroad, who does not move heaven and Earth to ensure that those who given so much, receive the care they deserve,” Hegseth said.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., noted that the Obama administration traded five Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, accused of desertion by several men who served with him.

“Sgt. Tahmooressi is an American hero, whose wrong turn at the Mexican border has had the devastating effect of delaying his much-needed PTSD treatment for too long,” Royce said.

Royce said he and Salmon have been in contact with Mexico’s attorney general, who has the power to release Tahmooressi on humanitarian grounds. They said they impressed upon Jesus Karam that Tahmooressi had been diagnosed with PTSD by the VA San Diego Healthcare System just five days before his arrest.

“I am confident the humanitarian release of Andrew Tahmooressi will occur very soon,” Royce said.

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition asking the Obama administration to demand Tahmooressi’s release, prompting White House officials earlier this summer to ask Mexican authorities to quickly process the Marine’s case.

Gun Fight Cartoon

Oregon pols battle over when to pull plug on costly ObamaCare website

Cover Oregon was supposed to be a shining example of ObamaCare at its best. 
The state insurance exchange for the state of Oregon received $300 million in federal grants to launch a state-of-the-art website. But it never worked, and not a single Oregonian was able to sign up for health care from start to finish. 
So now, Oregon is in the process of pulling the plug on the site and switching over to the federal exchange and HealthCare.gov -- but the question is, how quickly they can do it. 
“We need to move forward and do the best thing for the people of Oregon,” Republican State Sen. Tim Knopp said, “and I think that’s ending Cover Oregon as soon as we practically can.” 
Knopp and other Oregon Republicans are calling for a special session of the Legislature -- since lawmakers created Cover Oregon, only the Legislature can end it. But Democrats control the Legislature and the governor’s office, and they’re pushing back against Republicans' demand, and would rather wait until the 2015 session convenes in February to complete the transition.
“There are functions that still have to be performed by someone in the next few weeks and months,” Democratic state Sen. Richard Devlin said. 
Inaction comes with a price tag. 
According to Republican leaders, it costs taxpayers $200,000 a day to keep Cover Oregon running. Waiting until February 2015 or beyond will cost $20 million.
A libertarian think tank is urging a Cover Oregon death sooner, not later. “The simplest thing to do, the cleanest thing to do would be to give Oregonians some certainty and say, you won’t be having to deal with Cover Oregon come November,” said Steve Buckstein of the Cascade Policy Institute.
Oregon officials decided earlier this year to hand off Cover Oregon functions to the Oregon Health Authority, which will work with the federal exchange and HealthCare.gov. But the transition is complicated by a lawsuit filed by the state of Oregon against its website contractor, Oracle. The state is seeking reimbursement alleging a breach of contract.
Also, there recently has been more bad news for Cover Oregon and hundreds of Oregonians. The agency recently discovered it made a serious miscalculation when determining the federal tax credit for 775 families that purchased health plans on the state exchange. It turns out they owe more taxes than they were told.
“This is Cover Oregon’s error,” said Cover Oregon’s Executive Director Aaron Patnode. “So what we’re evaluating at this time is the proper course of action to make sure these consumers have the least financial impact as possible.”
Some in the Oregon Legislature want the government to pay the back taxes.