Roslyn Gray is Liberian-American and she has not been to Liberia since March, yet when she sought medical care for an allergic reaction to an antibiotic she had been prescribed she was meet with fear and needless panic.
After answering the standard questions "Have you had contact with anyone with ebola?" No. "Have you been in an effected county in the past 21 days?" No.
She was still treated as if the answer to those questions had been: Yes. Why? Well, she's from Liberia so I don't know? Ebola cooties?
After giving her answers, Gray said, she was isolated in a room for a half hour. When health-care workers returned, they were wearing masks.
"We are taking you to the University of Pennsylvania," she said they told her. "We think you have Ebola."
Read more at http://www.philly.com/...
The worst part of this is the impact it could have on public hysteria. When doctors and nurses treat people this way it normalizes the behavior. Liberian-American children have already had to hear adults say that they should not be in school because they are dangerous.
We also have a completely unneeded quarantine in NY and NJ with other governors rushing to adopt this pointless fear-soothing measure.* Experts reject it. This seems not to matter.
And it seems soothing American fears is more important than fighting the virus at the source and saving African lives.
I'm not surprised.
* Are some lives worth more than others?: Quarantine and Consequences