1. We’re told the incubation period for Ebola is 21 days. If you’ve been infected, you could become symptomatic anytime during that 21 days.
2. We’re told that only if you’re symptomatic (i.e., sick) can you infect someone else with Ebola.
Fine.
Assuming this is the science, my question for those opposing a 21-day quarantine of travelers from West Africa and health care workers who might have been exposed to Ebola, is this:
What if someone who hasn’t been quarantined becomes symptomatic in a taxi cab or a movie theatre, at a shopping mall or in a grade school? Suddenly they sneeze, cough or throw up on someone….
A fit of diarrhea in a Walmart bathroom could leave Ebola on the toilet seat.
My point is that not everyone is going to cross that symptomatic threshold at home in bed or walking distance from a hospital.
Wednesday, when the president shared a photo-op with Ebola workers who were not out of the 21 day window, I was not reassured. Recklessness, especially from the president of the United States, is not reassuring. What if one of those dozen or so Ebola workers became symptomatic during their visit to the White House.
Until this question is answered, this nurse in Maine who’s refusing to be quarantined is no hero. She’s a preening sociopath.
Are America’s anti-quarantine cheerleaders willing to let their child run up to this Maine nurse and give her a big hug? Probably not. She could turn contagious at any time.
If this is an unacceptable for your child, why is it acceptable for everyone else’s?
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.