The CDC has taken some heat for not restricting travel to areas in West Africa currently experiencing massive ebola outbreaks. They have consistently attempted to reassure the American public that everything is under control - but that all went out the window when the Ebola virus landed in Texas. Why haven't they shut down or heavily restricted travel? Neil Cavuto asked, and the answer did not inspire much confidence.
CDC Director Thomas Friedman told Cavuto, "We want to make sure that we do don't anything that backfires, because if you stop travel, if you isolate these countries, it makes it a lot harder to get help in, the disease spreads more there. It may spread to other countries in Africa and ultimately we may be dealing with this for years on end. We have to stop it at the source, or we won't be able to protect people."
Cavuto wasn't convinced. He said, ": But isn't the risk with, if they fly here -- I understand, sir. But isn't the risk that, if they fly here, you have already hit the risk jackpot, right? I mean, they're here, they're exposed, they might not have been exhibiting symptoms at the time, but they do, and they have, and they are, and they're here, and we have got a problem?"
"This is so easy. We've done it before," Glenn said. "'Have you been to West Africa? Can I see your passport? You've been to West Africa? Great. You over here for 25 days.' You stay over there for 25 days. We isolate you away from the shores of America for 25 days. It's just that easy. It's really not -- we don't have to shut everything off."
Glenn said we need to put anyone who has been over in West Africa and entering the country under observation for twenty-five days to monitor for signs of Ebola.
"And that is a significant inconvenience," Stu said. "That is the price you pay to avoid an epidemic or pandemic of Ebola. Yes, yes, I'm sorry, you're gonna have a few weeks that are inconvenient."
"It's common sense. It's certainly possible that we don't understand the way this disease works or whatever and there could be a reason why you would allow it or something. Because we're not medical professionals. But they obviously don't have one. They continue to keep saying these things that make absolutely no sense. Well, we don't know if we can get people in there. We're not saying you can't put people there. We're not saying you can't help fly health workers there," Stu added.
Front page image courtesy of the AP.