Issues Under Fire: Politics of Panic Produce Phony Pandemic

 

Issues Under Fire: Politics of Panic Produce Phony Pandemic

If you just happened to live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan as hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers do, should you be worried that someone in your neighborhood contracted Ebola treating West Africans of the deadly virus? Should you be concerned, that upon that person's return, they'd literally taken a tour of the city via bus, trains and taxi? Should you fear the odds of being infected by something that person may have left behind? The sane answer to all three questions is of course, no. Well, not really.

While the CDC and the WHO both agree, its next to impossible to contract Ebola from someone without coming in direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, if one used one's imagination, one might find those slight possibilities that do exist. When Dr. Craig Spencer returned to New York, anxious to get out amongst the civilized after several months of stressful and primitive conditions, he went out for diner and bowling among other things.

After a few beers at diner and a couple more at the bowling alley, the good Dr. Spencer would have had to tinkle. Some guys sprinkle when they tinkle. If the doctor gets a few drops on is hands and touches the water faucet to wash those hands, he's just left his contaminated bodily fluids for the next guy to touch. If the doctor happened to purchase an apple, a slice of pizza or a hotdog to munch along the way, but couldn't finish it, the doctor would have undoubtedly thrown the leftovers in a garbage bin. Those leftovers is lunch for the bum scavenging for a bite. Hey, it could happen.

Now that Dr. Spencer's condition has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, people are naturally interested in how this issue in being dealt with by the authorities. Thus far, one would be justified in being annoyed over the handling of this politically charged crisis. One would also justified in questioning the inconsistencies between the WHO and the CDC. The WHO's guidelines says one should be quarantined up to 42 days, but the CDC is satisfied with 21 days of confinement. Who should we listen to and who should we believe, since they both can't be right?

Until the world wide medical community has reached a consensus on dealing with this miniscule outbreak, it does make sense to enforce mandatory monitoring of healthcare professionals returning from treating Ebola infected patients.. And no, self monitoring is not acceptable. Its no act of hysteria to demand these people submit to a full physical before being allowed to roam freely among the rest of us. Other nations sent medical workers to West Africa in response to the crisis. How are they handling their returnees?

Bottom line: Health professionals should be thanked and handsomely compensated for their bravery and service, but not allowed to undo that good by doing something stupid. Taking a cruise, leaving town to plan a wedding or going out for Chinese food when it can be delivered is stupid before being cleared by another trained medical professional.

To date, some of those who've cared for or have been exposed to Ebola patients have not acted particularly responsible in the view of many. Considering the mixed signals being sent by health officials and political hacks taking advantage of the chaos, its no wonder the public has issues with this issue. Podcast Below!