Money Is Not the Only and Definitely Not the Best Weapon Against Ebola

Philanthropists and governments can spend all the money they want on fighting it, there's one thing that matters more

Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan announced that they would donate $25 million (€19.5 million) to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The money is expected to help contain the spread of the deadly Ebola disease in the country.

Back in September, on the 16th day of the month, to be more precise, US President Barack Obama announced that the country would invest as much as $750 million (€579 million) in efforts to put a leash on the ongoing epidemic in West Africa.

The World Bank and the African Development Bank have too pledged $100 million (€76 million) and $210 million (€159 million), respectively, so far. It is to be expected that, in the weeks to come, investments will keep pouring in.

The thing is that, despite all this money that philanthropists, governments and organizations seem ready and willing to spend on trying to keep the virus from infecting more folks, Ebola has thus far managed to kill well over 4,000 people.

What's more, it made it all the way to Spain and even the continental US. Thus, a Spanish healthcare worker and two nurses in the US have thus far been diagnosed with the deadly disease and are now in isolation, undergoing treatment.

It's important to note that these three healthcare workers all contracted the virus while looking after folks who contracted the disease while in West Africa but who were hospitalized in these two countries.

Last week, I had a bone to pick with a guy who thought it a good idea to shout “I have Ebola” on a plane just to have some fun. This time, I have some not very nice things to say about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its management of the Ebola risk in the US.
Strike one

As mentioned, two healthcare workers in the US have until now been diagnosed with Ebola. Both of them helped look after the country's first Ebola patient, 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan, who was admitted to hospital in late September and passed away on October 8.

Here's where things get really interesting: as it turns out, just a couple of days after Thomas Eric Duncan's death at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, the second nurse to test positive for Ebola flew from Dallas to Cleveland.

On October 13, the woman was on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland back to Dallas. The day after, on October 14, the healthcare worker started feeling feverish, was admitted to hospital and eventually diagnosed with Ebola.

That's right, this woman was on a plane just one day before testing positive for the deadly Ebola virus. Even the current director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted that she really should not have boarded that flight.

“She should not have been allowed to travel by plane or any public transport,” Dr. Tom Frieden told the press at a conference organized shortly after the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas nurse was found to have Ebola.
Strike two

As if having an Ebola patient fly around in a plane just one day after starting displaying symptoms weren't enough to give some people goosebumps, it appears that one other Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas employee now finds herself on a cruise ship exploring the Caribbean.

Mind you, this woman has not yet been diagnosed with Ebola, and by the looks of it, had no direct contact with 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan during his stay in hospital. She did, however, had close contact with clinical specimens taken from the patient, which she helped process.

True, she was wearing protective equipment at the time she handled the clinical specimens. Then again, so did the other two healthcare workers who tended to Thomas Eric Duncan and who are now isolation, trying to fight the virus.

Simply put, this woman who is now on a cruise ship might have Ebola too. Needless to say, if it wasn't a very good idea for the second nurse found to have Ebola to board a plane just hours before being diagnosed, it most certainly wasn't a good idea for this woman to go on a cruise either.
Please don't let there be a strike three

If we're going to be honest here, and I for one see no reason we shouldn't, it must be said that having a woman infected with Ebola board a plane the day before being diagnosed and one that might have contracted the virus go on a cruise is just – for lack of a better world – stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Admittedly, the healthcare worker who was on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 on October 13 wasn't showing any symptoms at that time and is, therefore, unlikely to have infected any other people, and the one on the cruise is not yet confirmed to have Ebola and, therefore, cannot be labeled a threat.

Still, the fact of the matter is that, in the case of both these women, there is a chance that, through them, the virus could reach other people. I don't know about you, but from where I stand, there's no place for risk when it comes to Ebola, regardless of how teeny tiny the risk might be.

To explain the title of this editorial, my point is that, at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how much money is spent on trying to contain the spread of the virus if folks are utterly oblivious to the most basic safety precautions.

Mind you, I'm not saying that everyone who's ever had contact with an Ebola patient should be isolated from the rest of the world on a deserted island and left there until it's made clear that they are not a threat to public health.

Again, the disease is not contagious until people start displaying symptoms, and the virus can only be contracted by coming into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids. Hence, there really isn't any need for somebody living two blocks from an Ebola patient to worry.

Still, I dare say that those who know that they might have contracted the virus, regardless of how low the risk might have been, should try and refrain from traveling and interacting with large groups, at least until they know for sure that they themselves are not a threat to others.

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