Via Jose Jose A. Sanchez: EBOLA SCARE The facts are that two persons aboard the #Carnival Magic are sick with symptoms that COULD BE [emphasis added] any numerous illnesses. But the Carnival Magic wants these two passengers off its ship. I can confirm that at the highest levels of the Belize government, requests have been made by the US to have the passengers flown out from Belize via the PGIA. Dr. Marvin Manzanero, the Interim head of Epidemiology Unit at Ministry of Health and Valdemar Andraede , Belize Tourism Board’s Cruise and Regional Initiatives Director are both aware of the situation. They are gathering the facts as we speak. An official update will be provided by the Ministry of Health on Friday morning. Since the Carnival Magic left in the evening, it could have gone onto Roatan, Honduras and disembark the sick passengers at the Mahogany Bay Cruise Center or even north of Belize to the port in Majahual, Mexico. It is clear that #Belize is CURRENTLY UNEQUIPPED [emphasis added] to handle the #ebola virus. We don’t have the hazmat suits nor the proper isolation units to deal with this virulent virus. There is an easy way to assess the threat. The Center for Disease Control in the USA has a short checklist for travelers who are sick. Have you been to any of the infected territories in the last 21 days? Do you have a fever over 100.4? DO you have symptoms such as Severe headache, Muscle pain, Weakness, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Abdominal (stomach) pain, Unexplained hemorrhage (bleeding or bruising)? Then you become a high priority case. The travel history of these two passengers are critical and they are not yet known. Where these passengers will disembark and how the people who come in contact with them are monitored are critical to Belizes national security. Do we take the patients/passengers or do we let them go on to another port? Whatever the case, the situation will change by the morning.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:26:35 +0000