Ebola’s in Dallas and so are We

I’m assuming that by now everyone has heard that an unnamed person in Dallas has been diagnosed with the Ebola virus. I wish that I could say we were all calm and unconcerned, but we are. The idea of this virulent disease being in the same geographic area as my children has me praying, planning, and fighting for calm.

I hear these people talk about how it’s spread by bodily fluids and not much different from AIDS in that regard, but AIDS workers didn’t wear haz-mat suits or catch it in spite of their best efforts. That doesn’t seem to always be the case with Ebola. I’m also hesitant to take at face value the assurances of the same medical authorities who have allowed a regionally specific disease to enter our country.

That’s the part that has me more angry than worried, the fact that it’s here at all. Why did we not restrict travel to countries where infection was rampant once we knew that it was epidemic? Why did we not impose a strict quarantine on anyone arriving here from infected regions? If the virus can take up to 21 days to become symptomatic, why are we letting anyone who was potentially exposed walk around our country during that incubation period? The patient in question was on an airplane with people he exposed, and then in Dallas living his normal life for four days before developing symptoms, this should not have happened.

I’m listening to my friends in the medical profession who are debating the best course of action from now until we know whether or not this has spread, which for now is trending towards be cautious and try not to worry. Until they come to a conclusion, which we will go with as we have an immuno-compromised child in our house, we are going to stick pretty close to home, wash our hands like crazy, and pray that the lack of due diligence on the part of our government hasn’t allowed something horrible to be in our back yard.