The actions being taken by the incompetent Obama administration to control the spread of Ebola in our homeland are insanely inadequate. The first person who was an Ebola carrier to come into the US without a medical escort should not have been permitted entry. He had been in contact with a person dying of Ebola in a West African country only a few days before he boarded a plane and began his journey here. He lied about his Ebola exposure and like other infected persons who are not yet contagious or showing other symptoms, had no temperature. That enabled him to gain entry into the US. Within a week he become contagious and put at least 50 other people including family, neighbors, first responders and hospital personnel at risk of exposure. The number of people potentially exposed was increased because of a failure due to human error to properly diagnose the Ebola carrier on his first visit to highly classified hospital in Dallas.

His entry should have been denied. The questionnaire he filled out was meaningless. We cannot trust a person who has been exposed to Ebola to tell the truth. This person had to know he was exposed to Ebola and might soon become ill and face death. We know that the Ebola incubation period is 21 days. Taking the temperature of a person before they board an airplane or prior to their entry into the US is worthwhile, but it does nothing to detect a person who has in fact contacted and is incubating Ebola and is bringing it into the US. As the word spreads that the best way to survive Ebola is to get to a hospital in the US, the more likely it is that people who have been exposed to Ebola will lie when filling out a questionnaire to get into the US. The greater the number of cases in West Africa, the greater the risk of plane passengers bringing it into the US becomes.

As we get into the flu season, it will become more difficult to make and early diagnosis of Ebola. We are taking a risk that, like in parts of West Africa, our capacity to contain Ebola may be strained or exceeded. Hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans may die as a result.

What should we do to reduce the risk of an Ebola plague in the US?

NO PERSON SHOULD BE PERMITTED TO ENTER THE US (EXCEPT UNDER APPROVED MEDICAL SUPERVISION) WHO HAS BEEN IN A COUNTRY, OR A SPECIFIED AREA WITHIN A COUNTRY, WITHIN THE PREVIOUS 21 DAYS THAT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AS SUBJECT TO AN EBOLA EPIDEMIC AS DEFINED. ALL SUCH PERSONS ARRIVING AT US CUSTOMS SHOULD EITHER BE RETURNED TO THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN, BE PLACED IN QUARANTINE OR, IF THEY HAVE A HIGH TEMPERATURE, THEY SHOULD BE HOSPITALIZED TO DETERMINE IF THEY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO EBOLA.

IN ADDITION, IF SUCH A PERSON IS TESTED AND FOUND TO HAVE A HIGH TEMPERATURE OR SHOWS OTHER EBOLA SYMPTOMS UPON ARRIVAL IN THE US, THEN ALL PASSENGERS ARRIVING ON THE PLANE WITH SUCH A PERSON SHOULD ALSO BE PLACED IN QUARANTINE UNTIL IT IS DETERMINED IF SUCH PERSON IS INFECTED WITH EBOLA. IF SUCH PASSENGER IS CONFIRMED TO HAVE EBOLA, ALL SUCH OTHER PASSENGERS SHOULD BE KEPT IN ISOLATED QUARANTINE.

SIMILARLY, IF A PERSON IS IDENTIFIED AS BEING INFECTED WITH EBOLA ANYWHERE WITHIN THE US, THEN ALL PERSONS WHO ARE IDENTIFIED AS AT RISK OF BEING INFECTED WITH EBOLA BECAUSE OF CONTACT WITH SUCH PERSON OR THEIR BODILY FLUIDS, AFTER, OR, AS A PRECAUTION, FOR A DAY OR TWO PRIOR, TO THEIR BEING DIAGNOSED AS CONTAGIOUS WITH EBOLA, SHALL BE PLACED IN ISOLATED QUARANTINE.

ALL SUCH PERSONS PLACED IN QUARANTINE SHOULD BE KEPT IN ISOLATION FOR 21 DAYS AT A SPECIAL RESIDENCE BUILT AT OR NEAR OUR IMPORTANT AIRPORTS AND SERVICED BY SPECIALLY TRAINED PERSONNEL.

IF ANY OF SUCH PERSONS HELD IN QUARANTINE DEVELOP A HIGH FEVER OR SHOW OTHER SYMPTOMS OF EBOLA, THEY SHOULD BE TRANSFERRED TO A HOSPITAL FOR TESTING AND TREATMENT.

BECAUSE OF THE HIGH RISK TO HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS WE MUST DEVELOP IMPROVED PROCEDURES TO AVOID BREACHES OF PROTOCALL (INCLUDING BY CAMERA OBSERVATION) AND TAKE STEPS TO INCREASE SUPPLIES OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING AND IMPROVE WASTE DISPOSAL AND CLEAN-UP PROCEDURES AT ALL HOSPITALS AND CLINICS.

THE NAMES AND METHOD TO CONTACT ALL PLANE PASSENGERS AND EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE SHARED A FLIGHT WITH A PASSENGER DETECTED TO HAVE EBOLA-LIKE SYMPTOMS, BUT WHO HAS NOT WITHIN THE PREVIOUS 21 DAYS VISITED AN AREA SUBJECT TO KNOWN EBOLA CONTAGION, SHOULD BE RECORDED FOR LATER USE IF NECESSARY.

The argument that prohibiting the entry of persons to keep Ebola from entering our country will likely cause great financial hardship in the countries currently effected and increase the risk that Ebola will spread worldwide is ridiculous. We are sending in military personnel to construct housing for potential Ebola patients and are supplying financial assistance, trained medical personnel, food, medicines and medical products to help countries attempt to deal with the Ebola epidemic. We can  attempt to stop the spread of Ebola within such countries by increasing financial and medical and humanitarian assistance to help offset losses to their economies, but the risk is too high of an Ebola epidemic within the US if we do not prohibit such entry. There are estimates that one million will die in Africa from Ebola within six months. We may not be able to prevent that, but that is an even greater reason to prevent people exposed to Ebola from entering the US.

There is a strong likelihood that Ebola will soon spread to South and Central America. It is therefore imperative that we seal our southern border now. We should have sealed it long ago. We know that many of the children and families that illegally entered the US with President Obama’s encouragement, and surrendered to border agents, had a variety of detected illnesses, but were nevertheless recklessly transported for political reasons throughout the US without being quarantined for at least a 30 day period. They were permitted to enter our schools without appropriate vaccinations. We do not yet know the source of enterovirus 68D which has hospitalized large numbers of our children at least two of whom have died. It seems highly likely that the illegal immigrants, who have different immunities to local viruses than US residents, were the source of enterovirus 68D. We cannot afford the risk that Ebola may be spread in the US as a result of illegal immigration. The press must speak out and Congress must act quickly because we cannot trust the Obama administration to acknowledge its prior errors and quickly close our borders on its own.

The failure to prevent entry of persons infected by, but not yet displaying Ebola symptoms, will very likely, in a short time, disrupt US air travel and cause panic in many American communities and damage our economy as Ebola cases are diagnosed. We must act now to prevent it.