Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly" • Hacker News Board

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#51

Post by ceejayoz » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:04 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #49

jmpman wrote: post #19

Grok is very defensive of Elon's role in the current Ebola outbreak. However if you push on Elon impacting Ebola monitoring, it will eventually admit that Elon's DOGE cancelled "some" Ebola prevention efforts very briefly, but in reality many Ebola related contracts and programs were not fully restored. "Surveillance capacity in eastern DRC weakened, contributing to the current Bundibugyo Ebola strain circulating und…

I understand the need for charity, and we should be doing it to support these countries. But I don't see how to logically make the connection that when you pull that charity back, you are now responsible for any crisis. That is exactly the argument that people who are against foreign aid make. Like I will help you walk and feed your dog if you can't all the time, but if I stop doing that and your dog gets sick, that'…

How you pull it back matters.

Why you were doing it in the first place matters, too.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#52

Post by greatgib » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

arjie wrote: post #11

> the US has “abdicated its longstanding role as a leader in global health and humanitarian response.” It’s interesting to note that in the end, there was no one else coming: we were it. A large amount of disease containment and control was just fronted by the United States. As the US declines, it’s not that a new leader will come in. It’s not that the Chinese century will have their massive industrial engine put to…

China is there when there is money to make or resources to grab, but in the last decades never helped any one else than themselves.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#53

Post by adventured » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

gchamonlive wrote: post #24

arjie wrote: post #11

> the US has “abdicated its longstanding role as a leader in global health and humanitarian response.” It’s interesting to note that in the end, there was no one else coming: we were it. A large amount of disease containment and control was just fronted by the United States. As the US declines, it’s not that a new leader will come in. It’s not that the Chinese century will have their massive industrial engine put to…

Yet it isn't fair to people that rely on such assistance to drop it without a plan to substitute the assistance provider. It was all done overnight. One day you had outposts serving people in need, the other they had their doors closed. So don't act like the world should be thankful for all the US has done when it pulls the plug in such a way that is maybe more devastating than having done nothing, because at least n…

The world has never been thankful for the positive things the US has done. The only thing it ever garnered were the briefest of superficial nods. China gets drastically more respect with their approach than the US ever has, while doing a tiny fraction of the good.

The US saved tens of millions of Russians from starvation a century ago. Culturally they have absolutely no clue about that, they're entirely oblivious in terms of their own history. The good deeds never garnered the US any positive credit. Only the bad deeds garner the US bad credit aplenty.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#54

Post by throwaway5752 » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #46

hedora wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are reading the situation incorrectly. The US was previously the center of international collaboration for science and technology, and that took decades to establish. The organization has been burnt down in 12 months, but the expertise still exists. There are signs that the international community will finally start working on climate change now that the US has pulled out of the treaties. The Chinese are…

Trump is the populist candidate elected to put the US back on competitive economic footing. His economic policy has way more overlap with Bernie's than people tend to understand. Both believe immigration lowers wages, and both believe tariffs are imperative (you have to dig back to pre-2017 talk from Bernie, he changed his website/talking points after Trump won). Edit: People struggle so hard with politics because ev…

You're finding somethere where nothing exists on the basis of semantics. Donald Trump is not a populist and he stated economic policy is simply "stated". Society just has become so trusting that someone can go about bald-faced lying about their beliefs and actions, while doing the opposite, without consequence.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are on polar opposite ends of ideologies.

Bernie Sanders has a lifetime record of integrity, working to fairly distribute wealth, and good and transparent governance.

Donald Trump has a lifetime record of bankruptcies, fraud convictions, lying about his policies for the working while governing for the richest people, using government to enrich himself, and using government to hide his misdeeds and shield himself and his business partners from accountability. Donald Trump says he is many things he is not, and simply believing the words that come out of his mouth is being gullible.

I am not even a Bernie Sanders supporter.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#55

Post by epgui » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

hedora wrote: post #20

arjie wrote: post #11

> the US has “abdicated its longstanding role as a leader in global health and humanitarian response.” It’s interesting to note that in the end, there was no one else coming: we were it. A large amount of disease containment and control was just fronted by the United States. As the US declines, it’s not that a new leader will come in. It’s not that the Chinese century will have their massive industrial engine put to…

I think you are reading the situation incorrectly. The US was previously the center of international collaboration for science and technology, and that took decades to establish. The organization has been burnt down in 12 months, but the expertise still exists. There are signs that the international community will finally start working on climate change now that the US has pulled out of the treaties. The Chinese are…

> The WHO admits they screwed this outbreak handling up badly

Uhhh no? How did they screw up? They were notified late, and then they did what they were supposed to do.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#56

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #49

jmpman wrote: post #19

Grok is very defensive of Elon's role in the current Ebola outbreak. However if you push on Elon impacting Ebola monitoring, it will eventually admit that Elon's DOGE cancelled "some" Ebola prevention efforts very briefly, but in reality many Ebola related contracts and programs were not fully restored. "Surveillance capacity in eastern DRC weakened, contributing to the current Bundibugyo Ebola strain circulating und…

I understand the need for charity, and we should be doing it to support these countries. But I don't see how to logically make the connection that when you pull that charity back, you are now responsible for any crisis. That is exactly the argument that people who are against foreign aid make. Like I will help you walk and feed your dog if you can't all the time, but if I stop doing that and your dog gets sick, that'…

You're mixing up different "you"s. If the American legislature got together and passed a law saying the American people just don't want to do so much foreign aid anymore, that would be a hard call.

But that's not what happened. Elon Musk, a random rich guy who was not himself financing the charity, appointed himself dictator of all American spending programs. He promised his patron that he would make the government run more efficiently, but found himself unable to. Then he went around randomly breaking charitable programs in an attempt to prove that his failed government efficiency initiative was producing meaningful outcomes. That's why he is accountable (and will be held accountable) for the people his decisions have killed.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#57

Post by delfinom » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #46

hedora wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are reading the situation incorrectly. The US was previously the center of international collaboration for science and technology, and that took decades to establish. The organization has been burnt down in 12 months, but the expertise still exists. There are signs that the international community will finally start working on climate change now that the US has pulled out of the treaties. The Chinese are…

Trump is the populist candidate elected to put the US back on competitive economic footing. His economic policy has way more overlap with Bernie's than people tend to understand. Both believe immigration lowers wages, and both believe tariffs are imperative (you have to dig back to pre-2017 talk from Bernie, he changed his website/talking points after Trump won). Edit: People struggle so hard with politics because ev…

And yet the economy outside the great AI bubble is continuing to slow down. The rest of the world doesn't want our stuff. We make uncompetitive products.

My own megacorp is continuing to build mass manufacturing capacity in Europe, specifically because tariffs are causing hassles for US import and export, and our EU buyers are demanding EU made after the bull decided to destroy all diplomatic relations built the last few decades.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#58

Post by epgui » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #46

hedora wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are reading the situation incorrectly. The US was previously the center of international collaboration for science and technology, and that took decades to establish. The organization has been burnt down in 12 months, but the expertise still exists. There are signs that the international community will finally start working on climate change now that the US has pulled out of the treaties. The Chinese are…

Trump is the populist candidate elected to put the US back on competitive economic footing. His economic policy has way more overlap with Bernie's than people tend to understand. Both believe immigration lowers wages, and both believe tariffs are imperative (you have to dig back to pre-2017 talk from Bernie, he changed his website/talking points after Trump won). Edit: People struggle so hard with politics because ev…

Support for anything Trump in this context is completely detached from reality. Unhinged.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#59

Post by delfinom » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

jeremyjh wrote: post #44

BJones12 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if the US continued to pay for international health initiatives There are ~197 countries in the world, you should also criticize the other 196 for also not wanting to pay for the exact same thing.

Maybe there should have been a plan. A period of notice and a transition plan. It couldn't happen, since the Trump administration does not believe in competence, only in spectacle.

More so none of them have actually started and ran a real successful business. Just trustfund babies who don't know how anything operates.

Re: Ebola Outbreak Now Third Largest Recorded and "Spreading Rapidly"

#60

Post by sarchertech » Sat, May 23, 2026, 6:12 PM UTC

WarmWash wrote: post #46

hedora wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are reading the situation incorrectly. The US was previously the center of international collaboration for science and technology, and that took decades to establish. The organization has been burnt down in 12 months, but the expertise still exists. There are signs that the international community will finally start working on climate change now that the US has pulled out of the treaties. The Chinese are…

Trump is the populist candidate elected to put the US back on competitive economic footing. His economic policy has way more overlap with Bernie's than people tend to understand. Both believe immigration lowers wages, and both believe tariffs are imperative (you have to dig back to pre-2017 talk from Bernie, he changed his website/talking points after Trump won). Edit: People struggle so hard with politics because ev…

Whether you believe in immigration reform or that we need tariffs to protect domestic industries or not, Trump executed both in the absolute worst way possible. And destroying USAID, threatening to take Greenland by force, constantly threatening to pull out of NATO, abducting the leader of another country, and invading Iran with almost no preparation or planning were not things Bernie would have done.

Just specific to tariffs, if you are a US company that wants to setup domestic manufacturing you have no idea what the situation will be next week much less several years from now. The chaos isn’t good for anyone but Trump. The rule of law is as much about stability as it is freedom.