The Centers for Disease Control informs us that it has considered all aspects of the return of two Ebola patients to the USA and finds that it is perfectly safe. The hospital in Atlanta where these patients will be located have facilities that can keep them isolated and keep the virus from spreading.
I respect the CDC. I also know that within the last month, people at the CDC found vials containing smallpox that were "lost" decades ago. Somehow that deadly disease (against which most of the world's population no longer have protection) did not merit careful containment. It is not drama but truth to say that the lost vial of smallpox -- in the wrong hands -- could result in the death of half a billion people. A "mistake" like losing the smallpox seems to me to undermine extent to which I am prepared to rely on the CDC.
I also know that the first Ebola patient returned to the USA is a doctor who got infected while treating other Ebola patients. The problem, however, is that this doctor was wearing protective clothing when he was infected. He never entered the area of the Ebola patients without his hazmat suit on. If that suit did not protect him in Africa, why will the similar measures used in Atlanta work?
And while we are on the subject of Ebola, we know that the disease has about a three week incubation period. During that time it is not contagious in a major way (no one knows for sure if it is completely non-contagious during that period.) During incubation, however, there are also no symptoms which would let someone know that the patient is infected. Given that, why has the USA not shut down travel to and from the three countries where the outbreak is located? Why are we still allowing entry into the USA by possibly infected people? At a minimum, why are we not insisting that those who enter the USA who were treating Ebola must be kept in isolation for three weeks to see if the disease develops?
No one wants to see such measures put in place, but can we afford not to do it?
I respect the CDC. I also know that within the last month, people at the CDC found vials containing smallpox that were "lost" decades ago. Somehow that deadly disease (against which most of the world's population no longer have protection) did not merit careful containment. It is not drama but truth to say that the lost vial of smallpox -- in the wrong hands -- could result in the death of half a billion people. A "mistake" like losing the smallpox seems to me to undermine extent to which I am prepared to rely on the CDC.
I also know that the first Ebola patient returned to the USA is a doctor who got infected while treating other Ebola patients. The problem, however, is that this doctor was wearing protective clothing when he was infected. He never entered the area of the Ebola patients without his hazmat suit on. If that suit did not protect him in Africa, why will the similar measures used in Atlanta work?
And while we are on the subject of Ebola, we know that the disease has about a three week incubation period. During that time it is not contagious in a major way (no one knows for sure if it is completely non-contagious during that period.) During incubation, however, there are also no symptoms which would let someone know that the patient is infected. Given that, why has the USA not shut down travel to and from the three countries where the outbreak is located? Why are we still allowing entry into the USA by possibly infected people? At a minimum, why are we not insisting that those who enter the USA who were treating Ebola must be kept in isolation for three weeks to see if the disease develops?
No one wants to see such measures put in place, but can we afford not to do it?
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