nationwide ebola hysteria; shame on you!

Ap Image: Nigerian health official uses a thermometer on a worker at the arrivals hall of Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria

As of today there have been three people diagnosed with the very serious, very dangerous virus ebola in the United States.  The deadly virus' origins are not exactly known, but its emerging threat stems from the RNA (ribonucleic acid) virus found in west African wild animals like monkeys, chimpanzees and bats. The virus in humans to date cause organs to bleed out until the person dies; serious stuff. But taking a step back once again, the current population in America is 316 million. To be clear once again 3 out of 316 million people in the United States of America have been diagnosed as having the ebola virus; yes 3 of 316 million. So why the national hysteria? Why not understand the facts and how to stay safe? These are questions that have been bothering me to no end. Yes the ebola virus is new to this country and very deadly, but we have more technology than ever to combat the virus and know what needs to be done to get things under control. While many people are freaking out about the person next to them on a crowded bus sneezing or getting on a domestic flight to another part of the country, many don't bother to understand the facts. They rather feed into the hype. What does this do? Who does this help? 

There has been one death in America after the ebola diagnosis. Eric Thomas Duncan returned from Africa and originally went to a Texas hospital to complain he did not feel well only to be turned away. He came back to the hospital as his condition worsened, until he ultimately passed away. The hospital has since apologized to the family, but that does nothing to bring Duncan back. Opposition says just cut off flight access from west Africa. Opposition blames President Barack Obama. Opposition yells, screams and makes up nonsense to get people to read their articles or watch their shows to talk in circles. Facts say otherwise. CDC (Center for Disease Control) chief Dr. Tom Frieden has said a ban could hurt efforts to prevent an outbreak in the United States. The CDC also is giving both doctors and nurses guidelines to follow in order to effectively deal with ebola.  President Obama did not bring this virus to America, but is doing what he can to get things under control. Until this point it's been a combination of the CDC's reaction  in proper steps to hospitals in what to wear and procedure, but they are working. The screaming does not help. We don't need  flights cut off or no government, we need better prevention and better government. 

A troubling tangent that appears to have fed into the hysteria is the recent news that a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who traveled to Liberia to cover the outbreak no longer is wanted by Syracuse University to come speak. Michel du Cille has been back for over 21 days and has done everything he has been told to monitor himself multiple times a day. He was set to speak at Syracuse University, but they called him and said the fear of ebola was too high and they did not want him to speak. He could maybe come at a later time.  Many may find this fine, but I see this very troubling. As a place of higher learning I expect more. I expect Syracuse to understand the virus and use ebola as a talking bout with Cille and students. Use his experience. But they chose not to. Not only this, but Cille received the news the day he was in the CDC headquarters in Atlanta once again ensuring all was well with him. I think this is problematic. As my alma mater, I feel that Syracuse University had a golden opportunity to rise above the fears and make a statement. Instead they faltered.

Ebola is here. It's a nasty, nasty virus, but the hysteria isn't helping anyone. We need to make sure we as individuals are doing what we can to stay safe.