In response to Contagion on the honor system:
While the Liberian and United States governments are obviously complicit in allowing this dreadful virus to reach American soil, I can’t help feeling a tinge of responsibility myself as a member of the conservative media.
Where were we when stories about Ebola rampaging throughout Western Africa were in the news day after day for six months? Did we think the Obama administration was putting proper safeguards in place to keep the homeland safe from the disease? Did we believe the lie that chances of it reaching our shores was slim to none? This is the Obama administration we’re talking about. What were WE thinking?
Not only are there no travel restrictions in place for people coming from West Africa – the president killed Bush era quarantine rules in 2010 that “required air passengers to submit more information to airlines and strengthened the government’s authority to detain travelers suspected of carrying disease.”
They should have been hammered by watchdogs in the media (us) long before the first Ebola microbes made it to our shores. But it wasn’t until news of the first case crossed the news wires that we started publicizing our concerns.
We are a day late and a dollar short.
Meanwhile, health officials are investigating a possible case of Ebola at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City Utah and there are two possible Ebola cases are being quarantined in Kentucky.
No need to panic yet I’m sure. The government’s totally got this.
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