There has yet to be even one case of human transmission of the Ebola virus in the United States. People within the borders of the United States are already extremely safe, very well-protected from the spread of Ebola. Screening for Ebola is already taking place at ports of entry to our country, and medical teams are prepared to take action, if eventually disease transmission in the United States does take place.
In short, there is no Ebola emergency in the United States. There isn’t even the reasonable threat of an Ebola emergency here.
Yet, Americans are freaking out. People are using the Ebola outbreak in west Africa as an excuse to engage in racist smears against African people in general, even if they haven’t been anywhere near the few places on the continent where Ebola is spreading quickly. Right wing Christians are exploiting the Ebola story to spread conspiracy theories about the government stockpiling coffin liners for American victims of Ebola. The U.S. military is encouraging fears of Ebola-provoked stampedes of people from Central America across the border with Mexico, even though no such problem actually exists, because Ebola isn’t present in Central America. Health care quacks are encouraging fear in order to sell their anti-Ebola snake oil.
Even in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, only three out of every thousand people are infected with Ebola, and these Ebola victims tend to be among the most impoverished citizens of these countries, and therefore the least likely to get on an airplane heading to the United States. Yet, right wing media networks are demanding that all travel from west African countries to the United States be stopped.
It’s sad, if predictable, that such political extremists would indulge in this kind of overreaction. What has been less expected is that members of the United States Congress would join in this kind of overreaction. Yet that’s just what has happened.
This week, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Barack Obama, urging him to, “quarantine for any individual who has traveled to or from affected countries in West Africa within the dormancy period, aside from responsible health and military personnel sent there to fight the disease, to ensure that they have not contracted Ebola and are not contagious. Lastly, we ask the State Department to impose a travel ban and restrict travel visas issued to citizens of the West African countries experiencing this epidemic, until such countries have defeated the epidemic. Such a ban should be instituted by suspending earlier-issued visas until further notice, halting the issuance of such visas, and denying entry to the nationals of such counties upon presentation of a passport from those countries at our ports of entry.”
The current policy already protects Americans, but these members of Congress want to make it illegal for citizens of west African countries to travel to the United States, even if those citizens have been living outside of west Africa for years. These kinds of restrictions are not only unnecessary, they help to promote a culture of irrational fear for the sake of political gain. It’s telling that none of these members of Congress have actually drafted any legislation to accomplish what they are demanding that Barack Obama do. They’re too busy running for re-election to do anything but strike a pose, and help to spread an unreasonable panic
The following are the members of Congress who have participated in this irresponsible posture to encourage public panic about Ebola: Steve Stivers, Alan Grayson, Ted Yoho, Robert Pittenger, Dennis Ross, Kyrsten Sinema, Kenny Marchant, Stephen Fincher, Michael Grimm, Tom Cole, Adrian Smith, Steve Stockman, Dave Joyce, Bill Posey, Mike Kelly, Tom Marino, Roger Williams, Steve Daines, Matt Salmon, Greg Harper, Andy Barr, Steven Palazzo, Mike Coffman, Dave Loebsack, Bob Gibbs, and Paul Gosar.
