Why It’s OK To Worry About Ebola, And What’s Truly Scary
Nancy Shute
NPR.org
October 30, 2014
Public health types are getting increasingly annoyed with people freaking out about Ebola in the United States, from governors to the general public. It’s easy to see why; when I heard a swim coach was getting questions from parents worried that their children might get Ebola from the pool water, it was hard not to cue the eye roll.
On the other hand, I suspect I’m not the only person whose husband asked her to buy chlorine bleach and gloves the next time I went to the store.
Fear of the new, unknown and deadly is normal; it’s what prompts us to act to protect ourselves. The question is, how do we get from misplaced fears, like Ebola in the swimming pool, to the right kind of worry?
To find out, I called up Peter Sandman, a crisis communication consultant who’s been working on how people and government officials respond to disease outbreaks for decades, including SARS and H1N1 flu.
So are we idiots for being worried about Ebola in the pool?
It’s certainly true in my judgment that the long-term risk to Americans isn’t in the high school swimming pool. It isn’t in New York City and it isn’t in Dallas and it isn’t the debate about whether we quarantine or isolate or self-monitor or actively monitor returning volunteers. It’s not any of that.
The Rest…HERE
