Time To Kill Ebola – Quarantine The Country

Mad Cow Disease, Avian Fly, West Nile Virus, Pig Flu, SARS.  In the past decade, fears of a pandemic have been raised by the alarmist media and frightful health community.  Thankfully, none of them came to be anything significant in the United States.  But with each new threat identified, the public has become numb to dire warnings of death, disease, and doom.

Now Ebola is here.

Many mistakes have been made.  First, Ebola was not in the United States until a sick and infected man from Liberia was allowed to fly here for treatment.  We imported a disease that did not exist in the US.

Then, the Texas hospital where the man was treated, either violated protocols or wasn’t properly informed or given all the necessary resources because two nurses have now come down with the deadly African disease.

I’m not a disease expert, but it seems like this disease has a chance to spread across the globe if something isn’t done to prevent and treat infections.  I have zero confidence in the CDC or any government to truthfully and competently address this disease.

It’s not easy being alive in 2014. We live with fears of a pandemic, terrorism, global warming, and an economic meltdown.  Every generation has lived through tough and challenging times.  Many periods of history were harsh but as society progresses with technology; it seems our demise on a grand scale is more realistic.  It’s something that would happen quickly and suddenly.

OK, so why the fear-mongering?  Why go dreary and depressing?  Sorry, that’s not my intention here.  But the whole threat of an Ebola outbreak seems more real to me than prior panics.  The virus is nature’s terrorism and we have many vulnerable spots.

The world should pool its resources and knowledge in an unprecedented way to kill this scourge before it goes any further.  Nothing else will mean anything if everyone dies.  Of course no one wants life disturbed and disrupted, but better to be inconvenienced now than fighting for life later.

Do some drastic things.  Quarantine the US – no outside flights enter our country.  And we don’t leave the country.  Close all businesses, homes and schools for a period of time.  Until it’s safe again. Wait 21 days? Sorry, no book tours and no public appearances, authors.  We need to go into lockdown.

I know, it’s not realistic and to do so could collapse the marketplace, but we’d all be alive to pick up the pieces later.  Otherwise, we risk extermination that could happen rapidly and forcefully.  The race for a cure is on – or an inoculation.  But look at polio, AIDS, and other diseases and how long it took to find a solution.  We can’t cure cancer or even the common cold.  Do we stand a chance against Ebola?

Halloween is approaching but we don’t need to dress in costumes to fabricate a scare.  We have a real one right before us.  How will we meet this threat?

The optimistic side of me says that there will be a way to contain this and that technology and science will save us.  But there’s another side that says human error and behavior could doom us.  Just like the stock market and economy goes through cycles, viruses go through cycles.  We’re due for a pandemic and all the signs point to the real possibility that it’s here, now.

But should we survive this latest scare and threat, I’m sure there will be plenty of books written about it.  Then social media can go viral about the books and instead of a killer plague circulating it will be an author or book that infects society.  But until then, lock your doors and self-isolate. Death could be at our doors.

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014