MERS was mentioned during the Ebola hearing

[Twitch]

Specifically it was said that MERS is more serious and is transmittable through air.  The link here says http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/says animals can get it too.  The CDC write up appears pretty short.  But mentions that cases have shown up here.  Sorry but I don't remember any real news coverage that had anything to do with the general population.   I was able to watch most of the hearing and couldn't help being somewhat entertained when the congress thought their travel schedules might place them at risk.  Also, the most important thing was the whole notion of what was not known.  Not one single person on that panel knew the number of flights carrying passengers from African originations.  That was the scariest thing I heard.  Can't solve if you can't see the problem.    

[Well-Prepared Witch]

I agree that MERS (and enterovirus) are more concerning than ebola. 

I can't imagine how you'd track the number of people coming from any given region.  I mean, what if a hypothetical person from West Africa drove from Guinea to Senegal for work, flew from there to Italy for a vacation, took a train to France because they had family there they wanted to visit, then wrapped it all up by flying to the US for work.  How would we ever know that they'd come from an infected area?  What about connecting flights?  Those can disguise the origins of travelers.  It's just not doable in a world as large as ours.

[DMCakhunter]

True, but people with passports from the designated countries could be banned as well as anyone that has traveled to / from those countries via passports. This would only be effective at airports. The northern and southern border of the US is too porous for any ban to work.

[JohnyMac]

"How would we ever know that they'd come from an infected area?" Passport Wellie.

I have traveled a lot in a past life and "they" know every country you have visited. First off countries stamp your passport. And then there is that magnetic strip on most passports. The Customs Agent swipes your passport and VOILA! Up pops the countries you have been in. Heck, since 2001 you are not allowed to enter the USA from Canada without a passport.

[Twitch]

Well sure I had no doubt air could be tracked and all other is pretty much going to be a mess.  But the fact that they didn't have the info so they could run numbers for models is bizarre since they've been alerted since March.  That data collection should have already happened.  No doubt all insurance premiums will go up as of yesterday no matter what they do or don't do.

[DMCakhunter]

 I bet they have a number and don't want to let that out.