Person Exposed to Ebola in Africa Brought to American Hospital - Report
When the topic of border security is discussed, matters of safety and finances typically arise. In fairness, those two topics are extremely important and should be brought up.
But one issue that isn’t as nearly as discussed is the matter of health.
Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Hofman told Fox News last week about a harrowing situation where ICE had detained an illegal immigrant who “had a strain of (tuberculosis) we couldn’t even treat.”
“Can you imagine if that strain of TB would’ve gotten released into the American society?” Homan asked on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday.
It truly is terrifying to think about the dangers diseases entering the country through uncontrolled immigration.
And while a report this weekend of a doctor exposed to Ebola being brought into the country isn’t necessarily a matter of border security, it still evokes similar feelings of concern.
An American providing medical assistance overseas during an Ebola outbreak will soon be monitored at Nebraska Medical Center after a possible exposure in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More information is available on our website: https://t.co/g9DKLoeJ5n
— Nebraska Medicine (@NebraskaMed) December 29, 2018
“An American providing medical assistance overseas during an Ebola outbreak will soon be monitored at Nebraska Medical Center after a possible exposure in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” the University of Nebraska Medical Center posted to its Twitter account.
“This person has no Ebola symptoms but will be monitored closely,” the UNMC website said in a statement. “Should any symptoms develop, the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit would be activated and the person admitted.”
To be fair, from all indications, this seems like the medical community doing their due diligence.
Doctors for the UNMC have stressed that the person under watch is not sick
“This person may have been exposed to the virus but is not ill and is not contagious,” Dr. Ted Cieslak told the UNMC website. “Should any symptoms develop, the Nebraska Medicine/UNMC team is among the most qualified in the world to deal with them.”
Cieslak is cited as an infectious diseases specialist with Nebraska Medicine and associate professor of epidemiology in the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health.
“The individual was transported by private plane and automobile. Working with federal, state and county public health officials, they will be monitored in a secure area not accessible by the public or any patients. Monitoring could last up to two weeks,” the statement notes.
Again, I’m sure the UNMC is being 100 percent truthful. But the paranoid person in me who’s seen too many viral outbreak horror movies can’t help but worry.
Why so much security if there are no signs of illness? Is there something we’re not being told?
UNMC also notes that the person “isn’t officially a patient.” The medical center is also honoring the person’s request for anonymity, though UNMC notes that “if it becomes necessary for this person to be transferred to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, regular updates should be expected.”
I’m praying that all of this is much ado about nothing and that the person has a completely clean slate of health.
But the situation is a reminder of how important it is for a nation to be in charge of its own borders — and who comes through them.
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