Public supports travel ban to block Ebola; CDC and White House push back

[Warren DeMontague]

19. Are you suggesting people who think we should restrict visa entry from the epicenter of a deadly epidemic,

Are somehow Anti-science?

Actually, like it or not, agree with it or not, they're showing a cogent understanding of just exactly how this thing spreads- despite months of doubletalk about how screenings mean "ebola likely won't spread on an airplane" (but clearly, as we see now, it can be spread BY an airplane, which the Nigerians have known for months)... But it won't be spread on the airplane itself! Probably. Yay!

Meanwhile, as we see every day, the "experts" at the CDC clearly and reassuingly know what they're talking about, yes yes.

And it would be an unimaginable hardship to restrict entry to the small nunber of visa holders from those 3 countries, until this is over... Cant be done!

Also this quote from the WH is real reassuring;

“We know based on our previous history of dealing with these kinds of outbreaks over the last four decades or so is that the only way to eliminate the Ebola risk to the American public is to stop the outbreak at its source

"These kinds of outbreaks"... Except, there's never been an ebola outbreak like this. This is uncharted territory, the people who discovered the virus in 1976 have been saying so for months.

Lastly, it's time to put the false dichotomy of "restricting entry into the US" versus "fighting it over there" to bed.. The two things have practically zip to do with each other. Supplies can get in through other means. US Doctors who go over there would be allowed back.

The Liberian national who wants to vacation in Manhattan will need to reschedule the trip. That's all.

Actually what's funny- what the reflexively anti-travel ban people don't get... Is that a travel ban wont mean that the US "stops caring about west africa" or whatever... Rather, a steady stream of ebola importations, and then secondary clusters of infection like we are seeing in Texas, WILL distract the US public's attention. The media will be focused on "ebola at home" while forgetting about the far greater numbers of people affected over there.

The way to "fight it over there" is NOT to inanely allow the virus to spread to new countries.