U.S. Has More Fear Of Ebola Than Is Warranted By Facts

The fear of the Ebola virus here in the United States is reaching ridiculous proportions. About 70% of the general population say they are concerned about an Ebola epidemic breaking out in this country, while 45% say they are at least somewhat worried about contracting the Ebola virus themselves.

Why is there so much unwarranted fear in this country? Part of it is because the corporate media has played up the threat, even though that threat is almost non-existent to the general public in this country. By playing up the threat they can get more viewers, and more viewers equals more profits (which is far more important to the corporate media than reporting the truth in a responsible way). They also allow people to spread lies on their airwaves in the interest of "fairness" (i.e., acting like there are two sides to this story, instead of just reporting facts).

Republican candidates must also share part of the blame. They have been unable to find an issue this year that counters the voter anger toward Congress -- so they have jumped on the Ebola issue. In the final few weeks before election day, they hope to scare voters into voting for them by making Ebola sound extremely dangerous to the public -- and by trying to blame the Obama administration for "mishandling" the non-existent epidemic. It is an excellent example of gutter politics, and sadly, it is fooling at least some voters.

The third chart above shows that some of this misinformation is seeping through to the general public. Note that 82% of people now believe the Ebola virus can be contracted from being near an infected person who sneezes (or coughs). This is an outright untruth. First, sneezing (and coughing) are not symptoms associated with people sick from the Ebola virus -- and even if an infected person was to sneeze (or cough) they would have to sneeze (or cough) bodily fluids directly on you, because the virus is not spread through the air.

The truth is that there is very little chance of an Ebola outbreak in this country, or in most other countries. Even some African nations have effectively stopped the spread of the virus in their country and eliminated it. Nigeria is a prime example. The only countries that have a problem with Ebola are those that do not have an effective quarantine procedure in place. The U.S. is not one of those countries, and it mistime for the media (and the right-wing) to stop trying to scare the American people to accomplish their own ends.

These charts were made from information gathered in a new Economist / YouGov Poll -- done between October 11th and 13th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a margin of error of about 4 points.

4 In 10 Don't Trust The Gov. To Handle An Ebola Outbreak

The top chart is from a Pew Research Center survey done between October 2nd and 5th of a random national sample of 1,007 adults, with a 3.6 point margin of error.

The second chart is from a Gallup Poll done on October 4th and 5th of a random national sample of 1,016 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points.

Both of the polls show the same thing (and therefore tend to verify each other) -- that between 37% and 41% of the general public (or around 4 out of every 10 Americans) doesn't really trust the federal government (i.e., the CDC) to properly handle an outbreak of the Ebola virus in this country.

Those polls celebrated the positive aspect -- that a majority did trust the CDC (and were not worried about catching the Ebola virus). I found it more interesting that such a significant minority did not trust the CDC, because I was surprised that it was as large as about 40%.

It is generally recognized that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States is among the best in the world (if not the best). Why do so many doubt their ability to control an outbreak of Ebola in this country? This is especially puzzling, since Ebola is not an airborne virus (which you can get from someone sneezing or coughing in the same room). You must actually have contact with a sick person's blood or other bodily fluids (and even then, the person is not contagious until they start showing symptoms).

This reminds me of the irrational fear in the general public when AIDS first became widely know. People were told that AIDS patients were not a danger (unless you were planning to swap bodily fluids with them), but people overreacted in spite of being told that -- and they went to ridiculous lengths to avoid those patients. Maybe it's just natural for Americans to go off the deep end when a new danger is exposed. And it doesn't have to be a disease -- since we have overreacted to the threat from terrorism also, even though it is still a minor threat in this country (since we have a greater chance of dying from scores of other things).

Green Party - Best Cure For Ebola Is Health Care Justice

As the United States has recorded its first Ebola death and people in this country are starting to worry about the disease coming here, the Green Party reminds Americans that the best defense is a health care system that covers everyone. Here is the statement the party released on October 8th:

The United States’ broken health system adds to the risk of potentially catastrophic epidemic.

Doctors Margaret Flowers, Walter Tsou, and Jill Stein of the Green Shadow Cabinet comment on the U.S. health system in light of the global epidemic and the first confirmed case in Texas, Thomas Eric Duncan, who tragically died this morning.

Dr Margaret Flowers, Green Shadow Health Secretary:

Ebola is going to test health systems around the world in the coming months, and as we’ve seen in Africa, the measure of the impact will correlate with the ability of nations to implement universal public health measures. Here in the United States, corporate interest and its control of the political process has created the most expensive and exclusionary health system in the developed world. This is a dangerous setting for an epidemic.

We have a system designed first and foremost for profit, not for better health outcomes. This has not only created a sub-class of millions without coverage, but has also fragmented the system into private institutions, all with different systems and technologies. A major outbreak in the U.S. of Ebola, or some other disease, would find fertile incubation conditions like those in poorer communities and would be compounded by an uncoordinated response.

If this happens there will be a call for Government intervention, and those private health profiteers who rallied against public health on free-market ideological grounds, will demand assistance - a taxpayer bailout. The risk of an epidemic and its potential effect on markets should shake Wall Street’s belief in perpetuating the cruel and inefficient for-profit health system.

Dr. Walter Tsou, Green Shadow Surgeon General:

Media outlets stated that the diagnosis was missed because crucial travel information was not relayed through the electronic medical records system. But it was not widely publicized is that Mr. Duncan was a Liberian national on a US visa. It is very likely because US disallows Medicaid coverage for the first five years of immigration that he was also uninsured. What role did Thomas Duncan’s insurance status play in his initial dismissal from the emergency room?

Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence. Crowded housing conditions and barriers to health care, there could be substantial risk - even potentially a perfect storm in the making for Ebola to take root in the U.S. There are several lessons being driven home within the U.S. as around the world:

• First, our health care system which explicitly discriminates against immigrants is a disaster that is ill equipped to deal with uninsured individuals with highly infectious diseases like Ebola. Only a true single payer, universal health care system, inclusive of all immigrants, documented and undocumented, will be able to stop an epidemic.

• Second, our reliance on a for profit pharmaceutical industry which concentrates its research dollars on the chronic illnesses of wealthy developed countries like the US means that tropical diseases and filoviruses like Ebola and Marburg get ignored with no research dollars for vaccines or treatment for decades while we spend billions on erectile dysfunction drugs. After long neglecting the developing world, we are suddenly scrambling, grasping for anything that could be a cure when we should have been working for a cure for the past 30 years.

• Third, we ignore public health at great peril to our nation. There is almost nothing that could bring a world power like China to its knees, but in 2003 SARS did precisely that. China, who like the U.S. had high health access inequality, found that people with SARS like symptoms were not seeking medical care because they could not afford the bill. Instead they were spreading SARS throughout the country. It was only after they instituted a policy that all patients with respiratory symptoms would be seen regardless of ability to pay were they able to stop the epidemic. In a recognition of how important public health was to their economy, they tripled the budget of their CDC and built them a new campus.

Green Shadow Cabinet President and physician, Dr Jill Stein, says the Ebola outbreak clearly demonstrated the need for health justice:

The discussion of Ebola in the US has been sorely lacking in a public health reality check, which Dr. Flowers has raised. In fact, the massive gaps in US health care create pockets of vulnerability, that could seed local Ebola hot spots in the US.

The missed diagnosis of the first US Ebola case in Dallas is a red flag. This signal event resulted in a tragic delay of treatment and isolation, exposing up to 100 contacts, and potentially contributing to the patient's death. The diagnosis was missed because crucial information was not relayed through the electronic medical records system. Unfortunately, this is not a rare occurrence. Add to that crowded housing conditions and barriers to health care, there could be substantial risk - even potentially a perfect storm in the making for Ebola to take root in the US.

The lesson is being driven home within the US as around the world: Health injustice anywhere is a threat to health everywhere. A truly health-protective response to Ebola should include urgent measures to implement a Medicare-for-all health care system to insure we are all protected from Ebola now and from future epidemics that inevitably lie ahead.

4 Out Of 10 Concerned About An Ebola Outbreak In U.S.

I don't know about other countries, but it seems that Americans love to worry -- even when there's nothing to worry about. The chart above was made from a Harvard University School of Public Health survey (conducted between August 13th and 17th of a random national sample of 1,025 adults, with a margin of error of about 3.6 points). It shows that 39% (nearly 4 out of 10) of the general public in this country believe there will be a large outbreak of the Ebola virus in the next 12 months -- in the United States.

Note that this poll was done over a month ago -- before there was any case of a person having become sick from the Ebola virus in the United States. Now one case has been diagnosed in Dallas (of a man who just arrived from Liberia). I expect that 39% is significantly higher now that a case has been diagnosed here.

Evidently people don't understand much about that virus, because there is very little, if any, chance of an outbreak in the United States. Although Ebola sickness is very dangerous to those who have the virus in their body, the truth is that it is not all that easy to get the virus. You must come into contact with the bodily fluids of a person who is already showing signs of illness to get the virus. That means the person diagnosed in Dallas could not have infected those on the plane with him, or who came into casual contact with him before he was diagnosed.

We also have to remember that in this country we have a very effective public health system. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been planning for this kind of thing for quite a while -- and they have developed effective measures to identify anyone at risk and quarantine them before they can endanger others.

In short, there is absolutely no reason to worry about an Ebola outbreak in the United States. We may have plenty of things to worry about in this country, but Ebola is not one of them.

Media Creates An Unnecessary Fear Of Ebola Virus In U.S.

I thought this Rasmussen Poll (done on August 1st and 2nd of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a 3 point margin of error) was interesting in sort of a shocking way. The shocking part was the huge number of people in the United States who now fear an outbreak of Ebola.

A whopping 58% of Americans say they are personally concerned about the disease caused by the Ebola virus -- and 46% (nearly half) thinks the Ebola virus will get loose among the general population in this country.

Let's be realistic. The Ebola virus has been killing Africans off and on now for a few decades, but not a single case of the disease Ebola causes has ever been found in the United States. The disease has no cure yet, but it is not as easy to catch as people seem to think. It is not an airborne virus that can be caught from an infected person sneezing or coughing in the general area (like the flu virus). The infection requires close (and usually extended) contact with an infected person.

That means an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the general population of the U.S. is extremely unlikely (you have a much better chance of being hit by lightening than catching Ebola in this country). And if an infected person was to arrive in this country, they (and those they had been in close contact with) would be quickly quarantined by health officials -- quashing any chance of an outbreak.

Why then, does nearly half of the population fear an outbreak of the Ebola virus in the United States? The reason, to me, is obvious -- because of the massive coverage of this virus by the media (especially the stories about the two Americans infected with Ebola being brought back to this country). The media, especially the TV cable news shows, have been doing segments on this story all day long for several days. Those stories give the impression that the virus is easily caught and spread, and there is a danger of it getting loose.

The stories enhance this false impression by showing the precautions taken in bringing those two Americans back -- including the biohazard suits being used by the doctors treating the victims. The truth, which doesn't come through in most of those stories, is that those suits and precautions are not to prevent an outbreak -- but to protect the medical professionals from getting the disease themselves (because they will be in close and extended contact with those two infected people).

The chance of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. is extremely small -- almost non-existent. And the mainstream media has done a disservice to the people of this country by the way they have covered this story. They should be ashamed of themselves.