Ebola Does Not Require an "Ebola Czar," Nor Calling Up the National Guard

Lasrick writes: David Ropeik explores risk-perception psychology and Ebola in the U.S. "[O]fficials are up against the inherently emotional and instinctive nature of risk-perception psychology. Pioneering research on this subject by Paul Slovic, Baruch Fischhoff, and others, vast research on human cognition by Daniel Kahneman and colleagues, and research on the brain's fear response by neuroscientists Joseph LeDoux, Elizabeth Phelps, and others, all make abundantly clear that the perception of risk is not simply a matter of the facts, but more a matter of how those facts feel. ... People worry more about risks that are new and unfamiliar. People worry more about risks that cause greater pain and suffering. People worry more about threats against which we feel powerless, like a disease for which there is no vaccine and which has a high fatality rate if you get it. And people worry more about threats the more available they are to their consciousness—that is, the more aware people are of them."

Comments

Re:Politics

[sl3xd]

If they had just stated the truth, that Ebola is hard to spread with proper controls, and can be contained...

For the public, notions of safety went out the window after the clusterfsck in Texas.

- A patient went to the ER with symptoms, and was sent home
- People in government-mandated quarantine didn't honor the quarantine, and went to public places. It took armed guards to enforce the quarantine.
- Two nurses, wearing the recommended protective equipment became infected, and are being treated now.
- One of the nurses went on an airline flight after treating the Ebola patient, in violation of a number of CDC policies
- Personnel treating the first ebola patient were in constant contact with hundreds of others, including other hospital patients

Restated facts (or "truth") about how difficult it is to transmit can no longer combat the fear that has brewed up.

A pattern of mistake after mistake has emerged - things that should have never happened did. People who knew better didn't do the right thing, over and over.

It's a PR disaster, pure and simple. Any goodwill or trust the public had was burned up in Texas.