The Ebola Backlash

All of a sudden, I am seeing statements from different people in the media about Ebola.  Shepherd Smith started it on Fox News.  This morning I saw one on CBS Sunday morning.  While it makes sense not to panic-I think it’s okay to have a decent dose of fear.  The CBS Sunday Morning riff on Ebola reminded me of Chip in Animal House screaming to “Remain calm.”

The government bureaucracy is not equipped to handle something like Ebola.  The hospital system the bureaucracy oversees is not equipped.  That makes us vulnerable if something happened.  It makes total sense to be very aware of where it is.  It’s why networks are so important.  Networks are adaptable.  They are smarter than any one person or centralized system.  Because we inherently know from data points the federal bureaucracy is porous-it makes sense to question it.

There is no doubt that politicians are using ebola as a wedge issue.  Jesse Jackson is trying to stir up passion by saying the hospital system in Texas is racist because it sent a patient home.  Republicans are using it in their campaigns to point out the continued ineptness and helplessness of the Obama White House.  You may not like political ping pong with a dangerous disease, but that’s the way politics are played today.  It’s a lot of noise.

I have seen some intellectuals say it is meaningless to ban flights from West Africa to the US.  I think they are wrong.  It doesn’t matter that all the flights are connecting flights. The manifests are known and stopping potential cases from getting into the US is the right thing to do.

Sending military troops to West Africa probably won’t do much either-except expose our military to the chance they could get ebola.  We’d be better off sending trained MASH units that helped countries deal with the epidemic.

I have a trip planned to East Africa (0 Ebola cases) this holiday season.  I go via Istanbul (1 reported Ebola case).   I am keeping my eyes and ears peeled.  A few months ago, the travel operator I am traveling with sent out an email telling everyone that there were no problems with Ebola where I am going.

It seems incredible that with all the big data we have today, and all the progress we have made in science that humanity is still very vulnerable to a virus.