Obama’s determination to allow travelers from Ebola countries
To the editor:
President Obama’s refusal to stop visitors from West Africa from traveling to the U.S. until after the Ebola epidemic is just plain stupid.
What is taking place today in Dallas where one person came from Liberia and infected one or more health care workers is a showcase of what will happen if we don’t stop the idea that we are safe from this virus and there is nothing to fear from allowing folks into the U.S. from countries that are stricken with Ebola.
The fact remains that the Liberian, who had Ebola, had thrown up outside the apartment before being picked up by the ambulance and it wasn’t cleaned up for days. No one knows what dogs or other animals might have ate some of this and are now carrying the virus around. There has not been any published reports of any of the animals in the apartment complex being checked for Ebola.
Even the dog that the infected nurse owns had not been checked and a judge has agreed to keep the dog alive even if it has the virus. These are the types of situations that need to be investigated – that could allow the virus to hide and create outbreaks of the virus long after the virus was thought to be dead.
The fact that Obama’s is not pushing the button on CDC to set standards on animals, such as dogs and other possible carriers in our surroundings is pathetic and it may end up costing all of us the fear of having to live our lives with this virus in the U.S. with constant outbreaks.
While it is true that specific hospitals set up to take U.S. patients back from Africa in controlled environment do not spread the virus and has proven effective, but that is not the case with travelers that have been exposed to the virus who hop on a plane for ride to the U.S. It is these folks that are not contained and controlled who are the ones who may or may not seek medical attention until they are in a state of spreading the virus by vomiting, excreting and bleeding out in public that is the problem.
The only measure that Obama wants to take to keep the virus from our shores is checking travelers’ temperature at the airport after they have arrived and we have to pay millions to take care of them. I fail to see where this is a plan that keeps the virus away from America and that keeps Americans safe as he puts it.
Leo Amos
Matlacha