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It was very soon after 9/11 and I think they were really scrambling and very understandably confused about how to comply with new regulations. They told me that no bags without attached passengers were being put onto planes, and maybe it was especially scrutinized because it went on an...

Indeed my bag was once sent to Mexico in error not long after 9/11. United told me they couldn't send it back without me being on the plane, so I suggested that they fly me to Cabo to retrieve it. Unsurprisingly they managed to get it to me without my free beach vacation, though it took 2 weeks.

It always brings me comfort to think everyone is unconscious. But then there are some tales of people surviving long falls in airplane crashes. And perhaps worse still, even if the plane was depressurized at high altitude, a person may actually regain consciousness at lower altitude. It was...

This also made me curious as to what percentage of passengers, on average, are no-shows for flights. On average it appears to be 10% in Canada (link below) and 12% in the US (link below). Taking into account the early hour of the flight and the possibility that 10 connected people were no-shows...

Interesting! I found an article that supports your post as well. http://m.ibtimes.com/sukarno-suharto-megawati-why-do-some-indonesians-have-only-one-name-1408204

I would guess that it would take about a week to change a flight number purely due to logistics; MH 17 and MH 370 are recent examples of this. As a side note Flight 191 has been associated with several unfortunate events on multiple airlines, including Delta and American. I also think if the...

Indeed. IMO quarantine falls under the "suck it up, buttercup" rule once it's in place, though as I mentioned, I also think the first one was not optimally handled. Coming back from a long stressful trip like that and being quarantined suddenly would be difficult to wrap your head around. I do...

Although I am not personally sold on the idea of quarantining all medical workers coming from Ebola-affected countries, I will say this. Once a quarantine order is in place, there is no civil rights violation. Quarantine has the force of law behind it, period. And states have the authority to...

Totally agree that it appears more scary for all of those reasons. Quarantine especially is pretty nasty when it has to be implemented. Heck, people even get upset when their unimmunized kids have to stay home from school during an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. It's no joke, that's...

I am not sure of your point. Of course they are overwhelmed in the African countries that have a large number of cases. Nigeria, on the other hand, was able to stop it in its tracks due to early intervention and monitoring of contacts. My point is that one of the major barriers to stopping...

Couldn't agree more. It would be a huge leap forward if even the fear of this disease could be lessened. People around the world might seek treatment sooner and make it much easier to contain in future outbreaks.

That's good, then you have nothing to worry about!

Hmm, I'm afraid I don't agree on several counts. First, I think that one of the critical factors may be immediate intervention rather than, or in addition to, only fluids and nutrition, etc.. There may not have been adequate opportunity to study this in detail before. Second, as far as I know...

Risk perception drives behavior, as you have pointed out, and is a key part of public health policy and decision-making. It is not just for actuaries. Regardless, I do not think it is reasonable to state that I have a "cavalier attitude" because I have pointed out that the risk of dying from...

Yes, I am an epidemiologist, and yes, I am aware of the sample size, which is why I expressed my thoughts as speculation. Nonetheless, if you take the total number of cases that have been treated in the US, to date there have been nine cases and one death. Why do you think that is? At least five...

Sadly, as someone who works in public health, I am not at all surprised that decisions are being made by politicians with little input from actual scientists. I say this as someone who has been working to change a law that jeopardizes public health for almost a decade. The folks who oppose the...

Emotion drives our risk perception, not facts. There is ample evidence that we do not perceive risk based on fact. I have put some articles below. IMO the reason there are 6 billion of us on earth has everything to do with science (antibiotics, sanitation, vaccines, food tech) and very little to...

I completely shared your disappointment with the first US response Ebola. However, IMO this is how public health advances, and the response has been vastly improved. If we consider this in terms of infectious disease spread, the R0, or basic reproduction number, for Ebola in the US has so far...

I don't know, because I have no idea what type of event this picture has really captured.

Absolutely. Caution is definitely warranted, especially among healthcare workers. This is a real-time drill for public health preparedness. What is so fascinating to me is that we may learn something truly mind-blowing about Ebola through this experience. And that *may* be that it's not as big...