Zorn nails it again
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2014 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This is the kind of insanity that the people hyping the Great Ebola Scare of 2014 are causing…
School officials in Strong, Maine, have placed an elementary teacher on a 21-day paid leave of absence out of fears that the teacher was exposed to the Ebola virus during a recent trip to an educational seminar in Dallas, where a man recently died of the disease and two of the nurses who cared for him were infected.
So even though the seminar was held more than 9 miles from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital where Thomas Eric Duncan was treated and died, and even though Ebola is transmitted only by direct contact with the bodily fluids of symptomatic patients, administrators in Maine acted “out of an abundance of caution” and sent the teacher home.
Even so… A quarantine of Texas… Hmm…
Nah. Wouldn’t work. Way too many of my favorite musicians and bands live there. Not to mention my brother and his family.
* Zorn continues with an Illinois angle…
In Illinois, Rock Island County has asked a family to quarantine itself because their 21-year-old daughter has just returned from Liberia, even though she is exhibiting no symptoms and has said she was not exposed to Ebola.
The combination of hysteria and ignorance is breathtaking.
How hard is Ebola to catch? Duncan’s fiancee and family members didn’t catch it from him even though he was actively symptomatic in their small apartment in Dallas. They and some three dozen other people who had been in contact with Duncan in the early days of his illness cleared the three-week waiting period Monday and are no longer considered at risk.
How easy is Ebola to control if there is a small outbreak? Well, impoverished, developing Nigeria saw 20 cases in recent months — including eight deaths — but on Monday the World Health Organization declared the nation Ebola-free.
I noticed Drudge is practically Ebola-free this afternoon. Since even that notorious drama queen has finally calmed down a little, maybe everybody else can, too.
And I’m looking at you, Bobby Schilling - the first and what I think may be the only Illinois candidate desperate enough to play the Ebola card.
- 47th Ward - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:04 pm:
This is what happens when science is so easily dismissed for political purposes. We become a nation of idiotic bed-wetters, too scared to think for ourselves and apply a little common sense.
Truth be told though, a 21 day paid vacation doesn’t sound horrible.
- Wensicia - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:13 pm:
This is my favorite line from the column; a mayor closes his city hall because:
“a city employee’s husband’s co-worker was recently on a flight with Amber Vincent, one of the nurses later diagnosed with Ebola.”
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:15 pm:
What is this, some sort of liberal hippie blog?
Just last week commenters were informing us we were on the dawn of an outbreak and Obama was letting it happen. I’m sticking with that, not your fancy science and stuff.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:16 pm:
Our school district has received more than a dozen calls from panicked parents wanting to know what our Ebola “plan” is. We are a small downstate district with no known citizens in contact with ebola or traveling to west Africa. Sheesh!
- OneMan - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:19 pm:
Actually not surprised at all… As someone pointed out, look at how the snack rules in schools have changed over the years.
The default is maximum risk prevention…
- Been There - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:20 pm:
Some people must have thought last nights Blacklist episode was reality TV
- Nonplussed - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:34 pm:
The only good thing about this Ebola scare is it stopped the idiotic politicos from talking about ISIL entering the US through Mexico.
- PolPal56 - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:35 pm:
Rich, did Bobby ever get back to you on the banning flights from Dallas-Fort Worth thing?
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:35 pm:
I’m still worried about anthrax.
- PolPal56 - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:35 pm:
heh.
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:36 pm:
No, PolPal56, and I asked twice.
lol
- Ahoy! - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:38 pm:
Ebola or not, I’m all for a quarantine of Texas.
- FormerParatrooper - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:39 pm:
The CDC and DOD have great information about Ebola. When I deployed to Africa years ago there were classes about infectious disease. Ebola was only one of many discussed.
If you are fearful, use the CDC and DOD sites for research. And stay off the conspiracy sites if you are gullible. There are quite a few.
In the last 2 weeks I have done projects at both Emory and the CDC. The most likely infection I could contract is not Ebola, it is MRSA.
- Wordslinger - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:41 pm:
The hysterics don’t have the attention span to stick with anything for too long.
It’s like any other bad TV soap. You need a couple of ridiculous plot twist every couple of weeks to keep them turning in.
Benghazi. Fast and FurIous. Central American children. ISIS. Ebola….. Just keep them coming.
- Jeepster - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:52 pm:
I am praying that one day Rock Island, just like Nigeria, will be Ebola free.
- Curmudgeon - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:53 pm:
“The combination of hysteria and ignorance is breathtaking.” Yup.
All this makes me wonder how the Anti-Vaccination true believers would react if they were told an effective vaccination against ebola is now available … Heh, heh.
- Jeepster - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 4:54 pm:
This is an opportunity for the other Quad City’s to put up their “Ebola Free Since _____ 2014″ signs.
- Jeepster - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:00 pm:
Maybe Willie Nelson will organize an Ebola Aid concert for Moline (held in Iowa, of course)?
- Jeepster - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:05 pm:
I’m gonna feel real bad if they have Ebola but I had to get this outta my system…
- Del Clinkton - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:07 pm:
There are roughly 70,000 people who reside HIV in the Chicago area who do NOT know their status.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:10 pm:
Dallas held the meeting to discuss the ebola crisis in their city in…wait for it…the Texas Schoolbook Depository building. omg.
- Norseman - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:13 pm:
I’m still upset that there’s no national plan or thought given by the Obama administration responding to the dastardly disease of cooties. That disease traumatizes millions of children each year.
- Enviro - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:14 pm:
I’m not sure which is worse, the Ebola hysteria or the lack of preparedness of the Dallas hospital.
- Kasich Walker, Jr. - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:21 pm:
Norseman, I’m guessing half the population has cooties and doesn’t even know it.
Richard Speck and the Viet Cong never went away in my world.
- Federalist - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 5:34 pm:
Is this hysteria? Maybe yes and maybe no. At this point anyone point anyone who thinks they can be absolutely positive one way or another is claiming more than they really know.
Personally I think this will blow over. Hope so but I must admit I would not want to be exposed to those who have been exposed to ebola.
- spfld_radio - Tuesday, Oct 21, 14 @ 9:52 pm:
Federalist… yes, it is hysteria. The fact that Thomas Eric Duncan vomited in the bed that he and his fiance shared, and she cleaned it up with bleach and no protective gear, and she is now Ebola free, should be enough to calm even the most irrational fears.