Ebola Worries

About a month ago, the administration was mocking people who voiced Ebola concerns. They took every opportunity to tell Americans it would never reach our shores. A couple of weeks ago, we sent 3000 troops to the areas ravaged by the disease in an effort to beat down Ebola. Anyway, the hemorrhagic fever is difficult to contract. With all these precautions and assurances , don’t you feel safe?

Yesterday, it was confirmed by the CDC that a man who checked into a Dallas hospital was confirmed to be the first Ebola patient. The Liberian national had left his native home for the United States two weeks before and was visiting relatives here when he got sick, then went to the hospital. This morning, it was announced that another person, a relative of the first, was being monitored. All Tuesday, we heard from government officials  and the CDC not to worry. They say “stay calm and wash your hands”. Still feel safe?

The question is whether or not we are getting the straight scoop or all of the scoop. Last week, it was discovered that there are 200,000 valid US visas for Africans in countries with Ebola, including 160,000 Liberians. How did the Dallas patient get here? Was he one of those visas? We were told there was going to be screening for people leaving the countries with the disease. How do you effectively screen for a disease with an incubation period of from between three days and 21 days?  Do you quarantine people for over three weeks before they are allowed to leave?

But, Ebola is here now, in spite of what government officials say can’t happen. What happens now? Officials are having to track down anyone who flew with the patient, anyone with whom he came in contact from the time he left the plane to when he was admitted to isolation at the hospital. Remember that he walked into the hospital emergency room, where presumably there were other patients, where he went through normal triage routines before going into a room to see a doctor. Anyone who has been to a ER knows they came in contact with many people.  The number of lives this man touched could be well into the hundreds. All those people need to be monitored for Ebola, then, if any exhibit symptoms, the same search should be made for their contacts.

These efforts are being coordinated by government officials, of course. Over the years, how many cases of government inefficiency have we heard? How many have we heard over the past week? If you want something done properly, don’t give it to the government to do. If you want a lesson on inefficiency, look to the southern border. Illegals are pouring across our borders unchecked. Government records show we have people coming across from 143 countries, not just three in Central America. Could some of those coming in be from an Ebola country? What’s to stop them?

A couple of months ago, there was a report of theft at hospitals dealing with Ebola in Africa. Stolen were blood soaked bed sheets and clothing of those infected among other things. Perhaps I’ve read too many thrillers, but couldn’t that be fashioned into a new type of suicide wear for terrorists meaning Americans ill will? Just infect a terrorist with Ebola and get him over the border. The illegals are already coming in with antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and a host of other illnesses. Why not Ebola?

While writing this, it was announced that  health officials had determined that school children had been exposed to the man with Ebola. It was also discovered the trip to the hospital the Liberian made on Sunday, was actually his second trip. During his first trip, he was seen, it was determined to not be serious and told to take antibiotics. This even after he told doctors in the hospital he had come from Liberia. Seems like that could be the first mistake. He was probably told to stay calm and wash his hands.