2014 Ebola Outbreak (EV)

The 2014 Outbreak of Hemorrhagic Ebola is an ongoing unprecedented outbreak of Ebola. The first outbreak was reported in the nation of Guinea, in West Africa in December of 2013. Patient zero is widely considered to be a 2 year old boy who contracted the virus in Guinea and subsequently died on December 28th, 2013. The illness was officially recognized as a local outbreak on March 19th, 2014, having killed 23. By April 2014, nearly 150 had died, and May, nearly 200. The virus broke previous Ebola outbreak records in August, killing over 500. By September, over 1,000 had been killed. The virus continues to rapidly spread across Western Africa, infecting the countries of Guinea, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of October 2014, Ebola has been reported to have infected nearly 7,200 and killed nearly 3,300, however the World Health Organization and the Union of Everett federal government have stated the virus has become hard to keep track of and containment of the virus in West Africa is no longer possible.

Responses
In July, the World Health Organization (WHO) convened an emergency sub-regional meeting with health ministers from eleven countries in Accra, Ghana. WHO declared the outbreak an international public health emergency on August 8th, after a two-day teleconference of experts. On September 18th, the United Nations Security Council declared the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa a "threat to international peace and security". The Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging UN member states to provide more resources to fight the outbreak.

Union of Everett Reaction
On July 29th, the Union of Everett officially established containment and security procedures regarding the Ebola virus. The infections of two American medical aid workers assisting in West Africa and the latter infection and death of an Everetti doctor also assisting in Liberia prompted the Department of Disaster Management to recommend prevention procedures for travelers and aid workers in the effected regions of Africa. President Spencer passed emergency mandates requiring any aid workers or others desiring to return home from Ebola infected areas must be tested for the disease and remain in quarantine for no less than 30 days. Airline travel to and from West African nations by civilians and non-aid workers was prohibited the same day.

On August 1st, non-essential aid workers were required to enter quarantine and then return home. On August 2nd, the Union of Everett announced its condemnation of the U.S. for intentionally importing infected persons into the country to be treated at a hospital in Sacramento, California. The Department of Disaster Management released advisories for citizens traveling into the United States to maintain proper hygiene and avoid unnecessary contact with people.

On September 16th, U.S. President Barack Obama announced he would be deploying 3,000 U.S. soldiers to West Africa to assist with containing the outbreak. Amid reports that quarantine hospitals were being looted by rioters and bloody bed sheets and other articles were being stolen, as well as assaults on aid workers, the Union of Everett stated the U.S. was outrageously negligent in intentionally sending people into the infected regions, bringing risk of returning troops spreading infection into the U.S. The Everetti Department of Homeland Security began a campaign of television and radio commercials to spread awareness of the virus, advising proper hygiene methods and what symptoms to be on the look out for in family and co-workers.

On October 1st, it was made public by the U.S. Centers For Disease Control that a Liberian man who traveled by commercial airliner to Dallas, Texas had been infected with Ebola and fell ill a week after arriving in the U.S. In response to the first reported case of Ebola in North America, the Union of Everett announced increased border security procedures at all crossings with the U.S. and Mexico. Although the U.S. reports downplayed the seriousness of the incident, the federal government stated the infected man had been contagious and exposed in public for two days prior to being quarantined at a Dallas hospital, exposing at least a dozen individuals directly to the virus. On October 2nd, the Department of Disaster Management advised Everetti citizens traveling into the United States to use maximum caution and hygiene methods, including wearing face masks in public areas and avoiding any physical contact with others. Border agents at crossings began mandated fever testing on individuals entering the country from the U.S. and Mexico. The Department of State urged the U.S. to shut down travel to and from infected countries in Africa to increase border security and prevent other possibly infected tourists from spreading the disease.

Union of Everett Assistance
Despite the Union of Everett's intensifying containment methods, the country has been a major contributor to assisting the fight against the disease. The federal government donated $750 million in September to the WHO to fight the disease, and heavily modified the EVNS Mercy hospital ship to be an effective mobile quarantine and treatment center. The EVNS Mercy arrived in the ports of Monrovia, Liberia on September 20th to function as a medical center and began treating infected persons on the 21st. The Union of Everett has been widely using HADv4R drones as medical surveillance and unmanned medical assistance on the ground to prevent having to send in Everett citizens, including doctors or specialists, into harms way. Amid recent and recurring mob violence that resulted in the murders of several aid workers, the EVNS Mercy is guarded by the EVS Piscataway littoral combat ship and a team of special forces operatives.