Slashdot Mirror
The CDC Is Carefully Controlling How Scared You Are About Ebola
HughPickens.com writes: Russell Berman reports in The Atlantic that the Obama administration is trying to navigate a tricky course: Can officials increase public vigilance about the deadly Ebola virus without inciting a panic? "Ebola is scary. It's a deadly disease. But we know how to stop it," says Dr. Thomas Frieden, the CDC director. speaking "calmly and clearly, sticking to an even pitch and avoiding the familiar political image of the whip-smart fast-talker." International groups wanted the U.S. to step in sooner to help fight the outbreak in west Africa, while more recently some Republicans have called on the administration to ban travel from the most affected countries.
Frieden and other officials say such a move would be counterproductive, citing lessons learned from the SARS outbreak a decade ago. "The SARS outbreak cost the world more than $40 billion, but it wasn't to control the outbreak," says Frieden. "Those were costs from unnecessary and ineffective travel restrictions and trade changes that could have been avoided." The government announced Wednesday that it was stepping up protective measures at five airports, where authorities will screen travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea with targeted questions and fever checks, an action, officials acknowledge, that was taken not only to stop the spread of the disease but simply to make people feel safer. According to Berman, the message is this: Be afraid of Ebola. Just not too afraid.
Frieden and other officials say such a move would be counterproductive, citing lessons learned from the SARS outbreak a decade ago. "The SARS outbreak cost the world more than $40 billion, but it wasn't to control the outbreak," says Frieden. "Those were costs from unnecessary and ineffective travel restrictions and trade changes that could have been avoided." The government announced Wednesday that it was stepping up protective measures at five airports, where authorities will screen travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea with targeted questions and fever checks, an action, officials acknowledge, that was taken not only to stop the spread of the disease but simply to make people feel safer. According to Berman, the message is this: Be afraid of Ebola. Just not too afraid.
You're confused. Wingnut media exists to keep former conservatives superstitious and terrified so they don't see through the Republican extremist nonsense. It's not Obama who's terrorizing you, it's lying wingnut media that wants you to be terrorized into voting for regressive Republicans.
They should be doing that anyway! If you're riddled with flu and oozing mucus out of every orifice, I don't want to get on a plane with you! Apparently we can't expect our fellow passengers to be considerate. Hell, I've read of two or three incidences in the last year where some fucker got on a plane with tuberculosis! Everyone has to get a full body scan at the airport anyway, so they may as well take your temperature. If you're sick, they could pull you out of the line, wrap you in cellophane and chuck you in cargo where you won't infect your fellow passengers with whatever disease you decided to bring to the airport that day.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?