Ebola

A second nurse from Dallas has come down with Ebola.  She has been flown to Atlanta for treatment.  The first nurse has been transferred to a facility in Maryland.  Both are under strict quarantine to prevent further spread.  Of course, they both contracted it from Thomas Duncan who was in quarantine.  Not a very effective quarantine, it turns out.  Mr. Duncan's family have been quarantined in their apartment for weeks though they have yet to exhibit symptoms.  What can we conclude?  Quarantine is the best known method for preventing the spread of the virus.

The Ebola outbreak is centered in 3 West African countries.  These countries have not been quarantined, which is how Mr. Duncan found his way to a Dallas, Texas.  Great Britain has banned travel from the region.  Why haven't we?  The current panic that is spreading across the country could have been averted if we had a travel ban.  Rather than a ban, the government has decided to check the temperature of travelers from the region, a policy that - if in place at the time - would have allowed Thomas Duncan into the country!  Are we morons?  Moreover, the policy has only been instituted at 5 airports which handle 90 to 95% of the all traffic from the region.  Therefore, we are allowing 5 to 10% of travelers from Ebola-plagued countries to enter the US without even this inadequate screening?

 

What of the CDC director?  Thomas Frieden was part of former NYC Mayor Bloomberg's bans against large sodas.  Here is a man willing to impose policies that will prevent you from drinking too much soda and bringing on health problems years or decades from now but is unwilling to suggest a policy to prevent a virus that has a 50 to 90% fatality rate days after being contracted.  If only he could be as determined to prevent Ebola as he is to prevent obesity.

 

To add to the incomprehensibility of the government response, we are sending thousands of troops to the afflicted regions.  To what end?  Short of killing off anyone who might be infected (which would be immoral and criminal) like in the opening of the movie Outbreak, the military is just going to put more Americans in the path of the virus.  It feels like we are sending the troops in order to claim to be 'doing something' about Ebola.  It may not be doing any good but at least action is being taken.