This is profoundly embarrassing:
The Most Ignorant American Ebola Panic of the Moment
This woman at the airport
last week wearing a DIY Hazmat suit (with her wrists still exposed) is not even
the worst of it.
As the spread of Ebola within the
United States continues to not
happen — we repeat: Only one person has died and two nurses who were
in direct contact with him are currently being treated — the string of uninformed
overreactions grows longer by the day, and shows once again that
Americans have no idea how African geography works, let alone how a
non-airborne virus is transmitted.
1. East Africa vs. West Africa
A school in New Jersey expecting
two new students from Rwanda — more than 2,500 miles from the Ebola outbreak in
West Africa — opted to side
with hysterical parents over common sense and decency:
Warranted or not, the Ebola scare
has hit Howard Yocum Elementary School in Maple Shade, New Jersey. The school
has been notifying parents that two students from an east African nation have
enrolled. They were supposed to begin classes on Monday; however, after
backlash from parents, those kids are now being kept out of school.
Although "the school was going
to take precautions, by taking the African students' temperature three times a
day for the next 21 days," that wasn't enough for the people who have
absolutely no idea how this disease works:
Just two days after the letter went
to teachers, the Maple Shade School District changed course and went public
with a note on the district website [...]
“The Maple Shade School District
takes the health of all students and staff very seriously. As many of you are
aware, we have students who have spent time in the eastern portion of Africa
that were scheduled to start in our schools on Monday. This area of Africa has
been unaffected by the Ebola virus. Despite the fact that the students are
symptom-free and not from an affected area, the parents have elected to keep
their children home past the 21 day waiting period. The family is looking
forward to joining the Maple Shade Schools the following week.”
"Anybody from that area should
just stay there until all this stuff is resolved. There's nobody affected here
let's just keep it that way,” said one parent, to whom "that area"
means the space from Philadelphia to Seattle.
2. The Woman Who Went to Dallas
Schools in Ohio and Texas had similar
overreactions last week, after it was reported that one of the
nurses who contracted the disease from Thomas Eric Duncan flew between the
cities before she showed symptoms (and was therefore not contagious). Someone
in Maine, it turns out, also traveled to
Dallas, although there's absolutely no indication that person was
anywhere near the nurse or her body fluids:
A teacher at Strong Elementary
School was placed on a 21-day paid leave of absence after parents told the
school board they were concerned that she might have been exposed to Ebola
during a trip to Dallas for an educational conference. [...]
“At this time, we have no
information to suggest that this staff member has been in contact with anyone
who has been exposed to Ebola,” the district wrote in a statement published on
its website. “However, the district and the staff member understand the
parents’ concerns. Therefore, after several discussions with the staff member,
out of an abundance of caution, this staff member has been placed on a paid
leave of absence for up to 21 days.”
An enormous crowd of parents pulled
their children out of school Wednesday after learning that the Hazlehurst
Middle School principal returned to work after a trip to southern Africa.
Principal Lee Wannik traveled to
Zambia for his brother’s funeral, which is far from the Ebola hot spot
countries on the other side of Africa.
4. The Self-Sequester
The New York Times today
details the "murky soup
of understandable concern, wild misinformation, political opportunism and
garden-variety panic," including the decision to just not leave
the house until the disease is contained:
Carolyn Smith of Louisville, Ky.,
last week took a rare break from sequestering herself at home to take her
fiancé to a doctor’s appointment. She said she was reluctant to leave her house
after hearing that a nurse from the Dallas hospital had flown to Cleveland,
over 300 miles from her home. “We’re not really going anywhere if we can help
it,” Ms. Smith, 50, said.
With panic standards like those, it
could be a while.
5. Higher Learning
And it's not just the
unenlightened: Syracuse University, a supposed place of knowledge, uninvited
photojournalist Michel du Cille, who had been covering Ebola in Liberia,
despite the fact that he had not shown
any symptoms after the recommended 21-day monitoring period:
The school’s dean, Lorraine
Branham, said a student who was researching du Cille prior to the workshop
found out he had recently returned from Liberia and expressed concern. Provost
Eric Spina spoke with health officials and made the call.
“It’s a disappointment to me,” du
Cille said. “I’m pissed off and embarrassed and completely weirded out that a
journalism institution that should be seeking out facts and details is
basically pandering to hysteria.”
In a note on Facebook, du Cille
explained: "What a missed opportunity to teach future media professionals
how to seek out accurate hard facts; backed up with full details about the
Ebola crisis. I guess it is easier to pull the hysteria and xenophobia
cards." It always is.
[And I will add one more thought:
Yes, people are dying, and we must decide "How shall we respond?"
Shall we run to their aid? Or, shall we abandon them and flee in ignorant
fear?]
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