Federal Ebola Policy – A Stubborn Resistance to Common Sense

Why does the Obama Administration resist a ban on visitors from West African countries plagued by Ebola?  Common sense would seem to compel such a policy. 

But no, presidential spokesmen deny the efficacy of a travel ban because it would be counterproductive.  Those who want to come to the U.S. will simply come here illegally and, thus, we’ll be unable to monitor them. 

Instead, the Administration contends the U.S. will allow such travelers to enter the America but they will be self-monitored for symptoms.  Huh?  Americans are to be put at risk because we don’t want to ban travelers from infected areas?  The idea that people who might carry Ebola will come here illegally is most unlikely.  A person who has Ebola is rather unlikely to have the physical ability or stamina to be able to mount time-consuming hurdles of illegal admission.

 

But leave aside that limp defense of unrestricted travel from danger zones.  It should be a statistical certainty that some of the visitors legally admitted in the absence of a travel ban will have Ebola.  Wouldn’t you, if you might be infected, want to go where your survival rate is, evidently, far higher?

Of course.  Many who come will test positive, self-monitored or otherwise.  What then?  Are we supposed to send them back?  That won’t happen.  American hospitals will be required to admit them.  But wait.  The United States has fewer than twenty isolation beds considered to be safely able to care for Ebola patients.  What are we to do with the overflow?

There will be more cases of Americans infected by Ebola, as ill-prepared American hospitals provide Ebola care as recently seen in Dallas.

The Administration is right about one thing, though.  Focus on stopping Ebola in West Africa.  Several thousand American soldiers are already there to serve that objective.  So why are contrary policies also being pursued which will inevitably result in additional cases of Ebola’s being imported here?

Seen in this light, along with strong public support for a travel ban, President Obama’s resistance is truly baffling.  It makes no sense, common or otherwise.  This is not an issue of liberal vs. conservative.  It’s a matter of protecting public health.  The Administration’s blindness is more than foolish.  It’s dangerous for Americans.