Ebola

Ebola, is it coming to a town near you?

My 10-year-old daughter asked me if Ebola could make it to our town.

I thought about it and said, "Well, every time that we go to the doctor, they ask if we have been to west Africa, right?"

"Yeah," she said.

"So," I concluded, "if someone said that they have been to west Africa and felt feverish, they would get a total smack down."

She said, "Just like the CDC on Monsters, Inc!"

CDC means "Child Detection Agency" on the Disney-Pixar blockbuster film.  Little did she know that CDC also stands for "Center for Disease Control."

We mimed the smack down and how a mask would be slapped on the patient's face and the person would immediately be placed in quarantine.

She laughed, appeased.  I was less sure.

Why was the Ebola patient in Texas sent home with fever symptoms after traveling to west Africa?  Our doctor is an Orthodox Jew, he asks everyone if they have travelled to west Africa when they enter the office.  He has for my children's entire lives.

He doesn't care if that offends anyone, he is in the business of saving lives.  And, no one is going of turn up with Ebola on his watch.

Have we gotten so politically correct that our desire to not offend ("Hey, buddy, did you just get back from Liberia?") now exceeds our ability to protect ourselves from deadly viruses?

Up to 100 people were exposed to this guy.  How can that happen in this country?

What can we tell our kids?  I am not sure, but make no mistake, they are listening.

"Mom, let's not go back to Atlanta this year," she said.

"Why?" I asked, "We had such a good time there last year."

"The Center for Disease Control is in Atlanta," she said, "I don't want to go back there."

Sheesh.