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U.S. State Department Orders 160,000 Ebola Hazmat |
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justintime
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Posted: September 15 2014 at 12:41pm |
U.S. State Department Orders 160,000 Ebola Hazmat SuitsBulk purchase prompts concerns about spread of deadly epidemicThe U.S. State Department has ordered 160,000 Hazmat suits for Ebola, prompting concerns that the federal government is anticipating the rapid spread of a virus that has already claimed an unprecedented number of lives. In a press release posted by Market Watch, Lakeland Industries, a manufacturer of industrial protective clothing for first responders, announced that it had signaled its intention “to join the fight against the spread of Ebola” by encouraging other suppliers to meet the huge demand created by the U.S. State Department’s order of 160,000 hazmat suits. “With the U.S. State Department alone putting out a bid for 160,000 suits, we encourage all protective apparel companies to increase their manufacturing capacity for sealed seam garments so that our industry can do its part in addressing this threat to global health,” states the press release. The huge bulk order of hazmat suits for Ebola has stoked concerns that the U.S. government expects the virus to continue to ravage countries in west Africa and may also be concerned about an outbreak inside the United States. Although the State Department has announced that it is planning a “surge” of emergency medical personnel into western Africa, only 1400 federal workers are currently in the region, suggesting that the 160,000 figure is far higher than what would be required merely for sending medical workers abroad. In a related story, sources from within the Department of Defense have questioned why the Obama administration is implementing a military response to the Ebola epidemic when USAID and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are already involved in relief efforts. “We don’t need to be taking planners away from the CT [counterterrorism] mission, and that is what is going on,” the Defense Department source told Fox News. As we reported last week, top German virologist Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit caused consternation when he suggested that the battle against Ebola in Sierra Leone and Liberia was lost and that the virus would eventually kill 5 million people. Evidence that the virus has mutated has led to fears that Ebola could have gone airborne to at least a limited extent. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, notes that, “there has been more human-to-human transmission in the past four months than most likely occurred in the last 500 to 1,000 years.” Osterholm says the premise that Ebola could mutate
to become transmissible through the air is a possibility “that
virologists are loath to discuss openly but are definitely considering
in private.” http://www.infowars.com/u-s-state-department-orders-160000-ebola-hazmat-suits/ |
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justintime
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State Department orders 5,000 BODY BAGS and 160,000 hazmat suits for African Ebola outbreak as Obama sends 100 CDC expertsThe U.S. Agency for International Development ordered 5,000 body bags from a Florida company last month as part of its planned response to an outbreak of the Ebola virus in western Africa. |
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arirish
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State Department orders 5,000 BODY BAGS and 160,000 hazmat suits for African Ebola outbreak as Obama sends 100 CDC experts
Two government contracts were completed this month, sending 5,000 cadaver bags to Liberia The State Department's U.S. Agency for International Development spent more than $89,000 to buy the bags and fly them to Liberia World Health Organization says 2,400 Africans have died as the deadly virus travels through Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and other nations President Obama will travel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday to announce new U.S. commitments to help CDC warns about US impact and sends 100 personnel to Africa; Obama government has allocated more than $100 million in resources By David Martosko, Us Political Editor for MailOnline Published: 14:07 EST, 15 September 2014 | Updated: 18:47 EST, 15 September 2014 The U.S. Agency for International Development ordered 5,000 body bags from a Florida company last month as part of its planned response to an outbreak of the Ebola virus in western Africa. And as President Obama prepares to enlarge America's aid to affected countries, a company that makes protective clothing says the State Department, which oversees USAID, has invited bids for 160,000 hazmat suits. The body-bag purchase came on August 19, just after the World Health Organization said the epidemic had killed 1,000 people. That death toll is now greater than 2,400. The size of the contracts indicates how seriously governments are taking the threat, especially considering that all 5,000 body bags were destined only for Liberia – one of three countries whose citizens have been hammered with new disease cases and paralyzed with fear. And the purchase says nothing about what resources might be coming as part of other nations' contributions. Barack Obama will travel to Atlanta on Tuesday for a briefing with experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His chief spokesman said Monday that the president will announce new levels of support from the U.S. to fight the disease. The CDC has begun to warn health care workers and hospital administrators to be on the lookout for potential Ebola cases. 'Now is the time to prepare,' reads part of a six-page 'checklist' being distributed nationwide. The agency has already deployed about 100 of its own workers to Africa, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters during his daily briefing. 'This is, if not the largest, among the largest deployments of CDC personnel – ever,' he said. America, Earnest added, 'has a unique responsibility to step up in the midst of an international crisis. ... Our doctors and scientists are some of the best in the world.' The federal government as a whole has allocated $100 million in financing and other resources to assist what has become a continent-wide race against the clock to stamp out a crafty pathogen before it can spread beyond hope of containment. That level of support, about one-sixth of what the WHO estimates is needed, 'underscores just how extraordinarily serious the administration believes this issue is,' said Earnest. Obama's visit will add a new sense of urgency, and more aid to the countries where the threat is the more dire. 'I do anticipate that we'll have some additional announcements to make' on Tuesday, Earnest said, 'about additional commitments we're making.' USAID's body-bag purchase was signed August 19, a $32,500 contract with a Florida packaging company, earmarked 'for the USAID/OFDA response to the Ebola crisis in west Africa.' OFDA is the agency's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. Buying the body bags, however, was just the first step. USAID inked another contact on August 27 'for the transport of 5,000 body bags from the vendor's facility to Liberia.' Flying them there from warehouses in Illinois and California cost another $57,144 It's not clear whether the State Department's purchase of 160,000 hazmat suits is intended to be delivered all at once, or to which countries they will be delivered. But Lakeland Industries, based in Ronkonkoma, New York, reported on Friday that 'the U.S. State Department alone' has solicited bids 'for 160,000 suits.' 'We encourage all protective apparel companies to increase their manufacturing capacity for sealed seam garments,' the company said in a press release, 'so that our industry can do its part in addressing this threat to global health.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756832/State-Department-orders-5-000-BODY-BAGS-160-000-hazmat-suits-African-Ebola-outbreak-Obama-sends-100-CDC-experts.html |
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