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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Liberian Mob Destroys Ebola Center Two Days After It Opens |
| 2014-08-18 |
| All the gloves the Ministry of Health brought this place when it opened yesterday, all 150 of them, were gone by the middle of the night. That's when three people escaped. Because Sam Tarplah and his staff didn't have any gloves, they couldn't restrain the patients who wanted to flee. They could only plead. "We begged them, told them people are coming tomorrow to help you," Tarplah said. "But there was no way we could fight them." Tarplah is a registered nurse who's worked in health care in Liberia since 1989; he opened this holding center for the Ministry of Health on Thursday, and had eight patients. On Friday, before the escape, he had 29. West Point is becoming a hot spot in a hot spot in the biggest Ebola outbreak in history. It's an informal community, a "slum," with no running water or toilets. People can live seven or more to a single dwelling, and the density is dangerous: A positive Ebola patient disappearing into the maze of metal shacks can be a public health horror story. Today, things got even worse. A mob descended on the center at around 5:30 p.m., chanting, "No Ebola in West Point! No Ebola in West Point!" They stormed the front gate and pushed into the holding center. They stole the few gloves someone had donated this morning, and the chlorine sprayers used to disinfect the bodies of those who die here, all the while hollering that Ebola is a hoax. Who'da thunk they had truthers in Liberia, too? They ransacked the protective suits, the goggles, the masks. They destroyed part of Tarplah's car as he was fleeing the crowd. Jemimah Kargbo, a health care worker at a clinic next door, said they took mattresses and bedding, utensils and plastic chairs. "Everybody left with their own thing," she said. "What are they carrying to their homes? They are carrying their deaths." She said the police showed up but the crowd intimidated them. "The police were there but they couldn't contain them. They started threatening the police, so the police just looked at them," she said. And then mob left with all of the patients. "They said, 'The president says you have Ebola, but you don't have Ebola, you have malaria. Get up and go out!'" Kargbo said. Tolbert Nyenswah, the assistant minister of health, told BuzzFeed on Thursday they intend to quarantine all of West Point, a serious measure that would require meticulous planning and heavy security. Nyenswah could not be reached for comment on today's riot or its effect on the quarantine plan. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #12 I've heard nothing bad about the MSF clinics, but despite anti-corruption campaigns, I'd bet that Rob is correct and various people "ate the money" that was supposed to go to gov't clinic supplies over the years. There are dedicated people working there, but it's an uphill struggle. The fear of killers stealing body parts for magic has always been greater than the actual incidence of it, but it has happened from time to time--allegedly sometimes with high officials involved. And there's a bit of history with district officials, who given license to impress locals into road building projects, impressed them into working on their own farms instead. Not trusting authorities can run pretty deep there. I don't give up hope, though. Things used to get pretty weird in England, too. My father is buried there, Sonny. You might say we have a few ties to the area. |
| Posted by: James 2014-08-18 21:08 |
| #11 Really, 150 latex gloves? I have more in my workshop, and rarely work with anything I need protection from. This isn't because they're poor, this is because a bunch people are pocketing the money intended for these clinics. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2014-08-18 19:10 |
| #10 All evil and misfortune that befalls Africa has originated in the West. I thought everyone knew that. [sarc off] |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-08-18 16:58 |
| #9 "Who'd 'a thunk they had truthers...." Thanks to Charles Taylor et al, an entire generation didn't have a chance to get even the rudimentary education available in Africa. Schools were shut down for over ten years and all the infrastructure was destroyed. Warlords forced villagers off their land, and a whole generation didn't learn how to farm, either. The myth has spread, even among educated Africans, that AIDS and Ebola come from the West. "We didn't have big outbreaks before, so it's not native." This an example of a post-hoc fallacy; but there is one small element of truth in it. Before urbanization, a disease might wipe out an isolated village, but would then stop. With urbanization, diseases that once burned themselves out in a small area now can infect millions because of travel and crowded conditions. |
| Posted by: mom 2014-08-18 16:53 |
| #8 Liberia was a white man's epic fail concept from the beginning. Virtually impossible to rid yourself of cheap labor. Probably be learning a lot more about 'cheap labor' this week. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-08-18 16:08 |
| #7 You reap what you sow. Sorry guys, you are well and truly fucked now. Enjoy your plague. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2014-08-18 14:53 |
| #6 Cain't send no precious vaccine, cuz no such thang. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-08-18 13:11 |
| #5 Why aren't we sending more precious vaccine, again? They're apparently Democrats. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2014-08-18 07:55 |
| #4 It is already, really ugly. Pull the aid workers and medical staff out and sanitize the whole place. Cauterize it. Ruthless for sure, but this is way out of control. |
| Posted by: Sonny Glarong6820 2014-08-18 02:55 |
| #3 Pretty soon they will start using zombie movies as educational material for the security forces when this gets really ugly. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2014-08-18 02:43 |
| #2 Ah, well, too bad. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-08-18 01:59 |
| #1 "The police were there but they couldn't contain them. They started threatening the police, so the police just looked at them," she said. And then mob left with all of the patients. Another Ferguson moment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-08-18 01:05 |