Dear Colleagues,
As the intensity of the Ebola outbreak grows, we recognize that staff have many specific questions. Several of you have requested guidance on issues such as EVD prevention, travel restrictions, and insurance implications. We are working hard to answer the crucial questions you have raised and are currently interfacing with other organizations in order to understand how to best protect you and to address any concerns that you or your families might have. Our goal is to initiate active measures to ensure that our employees are kept as safe as possible and have access to the latest information and resources. We hope to have the answers to your questions very soon.
Please email David Rolph, our director of Global Security, david_rolph@abtassoc.com and cc Sarah Dedic, sarah_dedic@abtassoc.com with any additional questions you have.
This week, a total of 14,098 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 5,160 deaths have been reported. According to the WHO, there is some evidence to indicate that case incidence is no longer increasing nationally in Guinea and Liberia. Amid this progress, Liberia's president has lifted the state of emergency imposed to control the outbreak which banned large public gatherings, shut some markets and allowed the government to restrict people's movements. While the country’s schools will remain closed for now, officials are discussing how and when to reopen them. In contrast to the signs of progress in Guinea and Liberia, it is believed that sharp increases persist in Sierra Leone which reported 421 new confirmed cases alone in the last week. On Wednesday, hundreds of health workers involved in treating Ebola patients went on strike at a clinic in Sierra Leone protesting the government’s failure to pay the workers’ weekly hazard pay for treating Ebola patients.
In Mali, a second chain of transmission unrelated to the country’s initial case has occurred. There have now been a total of 4 confirmed and probable cases, including four deaths. The victim who began the new outbreak was an imam who fell ill in Guinea and traveled to Bamako for treatment. Ebola was not suspected as the underlying cause of the kidney failure for which the man had been treated. Because of his status as an imam, his body was washed, according to ritual, at a mosque in Bamako and returned to Guinea for burial after a funeral at another mosque. Ebola was only detected after a nurse who had treated the man fell ill and died. Three clinics where the imam was treated, the family compound where the nurse lived, and the mosque in Bamako are all closed and under quarantine. More than 90 people have been quarantined and intensive contact tracing is still under way. This major setback has occurred just as the initial group of people linked to the country’s first case completed their 21-day quarantine on Tuesday.
Twenty-two days have passed since Spain’s only Ebola patient tested negative twice and was discharged from hospital. Spain will therefore be declared free of EVD in 20 days if no new cases are reported. In the United States, there have been four cases and one death. All 3 infected Healthcare Workers have tested negative for Ebola twice and have been released from hospital. In addition, all contacts in the U.S. have completed the 21-day follow-up period. It’s been 31 days since the last case tested negative twice and was discharged from hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once 42 days have passed, the country can be declared free of Ebola.
While response efforts are increasing, important gaps still remain. According to the WHO, of the 2,636 Community Care Centers (CCC) beds required only 98 are open. In addition, only 19 of 53 planned Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs) were open as of 11 November. Furthermore, out of the 370 trained burial teams needed, only 140 are on the ground.
On a positive note, all Ebola-affected districts have laboratory support. WHO also continues to assist the 15 countries that neighbor Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone or that otherwise have strong trade and travel ties with these three countries with technical assistance on preparedness. These countries are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, and Togo.
For more on the Ebola outbreak and EVD preparedness visit the resources at the links below.
https://www.internationalsos.com/ebola/
Best,
Jay
Jay L. Knott | Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer | Abt Associates
O: 301-347-5896| F: 301-828-9739 | www.abtassociates.com
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