It’s Halloween — and the only thing scarier than Ebola this week is Ebola paranoia. Should you panic in bowling alleys? How justified is your fear of hospitals? Are mandatory quarantines even legal in the U.S., anyway? 3 ideas behind the news.
Source: “Thomas Eric Duncan and Craig Spencer: Race, nationality and rhetoric of Ebola patients,” Slate, 2014.
Why you should read this article: There’s a casual racism to most Ebola fearmongering in the U.S. This article spells it out. For further reading on the issue, start with this history of racist moral panic over disease.
Source: “David Quammen on Ebola, globalization and viral epidemics,” Ebola Deeply, 2014.
Why you should read this Q&A: Does being forced into an Ebola tent violate your civil rights? Yes, says David Quammen, author of Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus — and we need more national conversation about the conflict between public health and individual liberties. To get up to speed on the issue, read this Q&A.
Source: “ER doctor: What scares me even more than Ebola,” LinkedIn, 2014.
Why you should read this post: What do emergency physicians really fear when it comes to contagion in their hospitals? Read this candid, funny — and genuinely frightening — piece by Dr. Louis M. Profeta to find out.
Featured image via iStockphoto.
