Quote:
Originally Posted by dbussone
In some cases it was, given the outbreak of SARS, there were geographic restrictions in place.
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I have advocated travel restrictions from day one. THAT means nothing, of course...I realize that.
We have been just a bit late on the last few world crisis situations and
are paying for it, and everyone knows that is true. Please let us not be late on this if it expands.
One huge difference....on all those diseases that were used for an example, I think each had a vaccine....NONE for Ebola.
Why hasnt this been done...I pray that their wisdom has expanded a lot since our tardiness on other issues (which are going to cost lives in the world), and they are doing the right thing. When you hear about porous borders...when you hear about our lack of enforcing our law on the border....it just is scary. The last nurse was on a plane with over 100 people.....if ONE, JUST ONE had some sort of accidental contact and took it home to their family....infected a few, especially children...and away we go.
It could happen.
Would a travel ban from these countries work to protect us...who knows. I do know that most African countries have those bans already.
I do understand all the concerns about doing it.....I just do not like to hear that it is "off the table"....it is that verbage...or "not in consideration" that bothers me.
Seems to me, that if you were to over react, this would be the kind of situation to overreact with !
There is an article in the Wall Street Journal on the very subject of travel bans. The basic thought is that doing that alone is wrong and also provides a case about how it may hurt, but it gives a lot of statistics worked up....
"Professor Alex Vespignani, a physicist at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, has developed a computer model that predicts how air traffic affects the spread of Ebola."
It is a great article and worth reading.....
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jvchamar.../ebola-travel/
What caught my eye....is this from the computer model....
"For most countries, the results indicate that an 80% air traffic reduction more than halves the probability of importing a case of Ebola. For the US, the risk is reduced from around 75% to 25%."
".....Nigeria, which has had one outbreak of 20 cases from a single importation from Liberia."
I am being positive with this situation and hoping and assuming this is a short term situation. If that is the case, the travel ban seems logical....I know it will not stop Ebola in its tracks, but saving just one case, if possible seems worth it.