Let’s Not Forget The Real Ebola Crisis
Now that we have hopefully quelled the number of Ebola cases in the U.S. at a whopping 3, there has been a noted dropoff in media coverage. I hate to rain on everyone’s parade but there are still a lot of people dying in Africa:
Every couple of days, the World Health Organization (WHO) issues a “situation update” on the Ebola epidemic, with new numbers of cases and deaths for each of the affected countries. These numbers―9216 and 4555 respectively, according to Friday’s update―are instantly reported and tweeted around the world. They’re also quickly translated into ever-more frightening graphics by people who follow the epidemic closely, such as virologist Ian Mackay of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, and Maia Majumder, a Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge who visualizes the data on her website and publishes projections on HealthMap, an online information system for outbreaks.
But it’s widely known that the real situation is much worse than the numbers show because many cases don’t make it into the official statistics. Underreporting occurs in every disease outbreak anywhere, but keeping track of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone has been particularly difficult. And the epidemic unfolds, underreporting appears to be getting worse. (“It’s a mess,” Mackay says.)
Our government should still be doing much more to combat Ebola where it is doing the most damage.
Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Stuart Shapiro
Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.
10 responses to Let’s Not Forget The Real Ebola Crisis
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tracey marie October 22nd, 2014 at 13:55
Those are black people, the news channels have no reason to worry about them. Sad isn’t it.
tracey marie October 22nd, 2014 at 13:55
Those are black people, the news channels have no reason to worry about them. Sad isn’t it.
fancypants October 22nd, 2014 at 19:48
Our government should still be doing much more to combat Ebola where it is doing the most damage.
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im all for our country doing its part However we now live in a free market world who to this day visit Africa and who also hardly contribute to this solution at all.
kind of reminds me of a war some countries expect us to fight and NOW the war is starting to seek them out one by one.
fancypants October 22nd, 2014 at 19:48
Our government should still be doing much more to combat Ebola where it is doing the most damage.
———————————————
im all for our country doing its part However we now live in a free market world who to this day visit Africa and who also hardly contribute to this solution at all.
kind of reminds me of a war some countries expect us to fight and NOW the war is starting to seek them out one by one.
greenfloyd October 22nd, 2014 at 23:40
The sad and frustrating thing is the World Health Organization knows exactly what needs to be done in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone: Official WHO Ebola toll near 5,000 with true number nearer 15,000
Over the last few days I have searched in vain for information on the American response to Ebola in Africa and have found nothing!
fahvel October 23rd, 2014 at 03:12
the French are there!!!
greenfloyd October 23rd, 2014 at 04:10
That’s good and I understand the Cubans have been there all along. I failed to note above that some rich Americans have made impressive financial contributions in recent days. I wonder if the lack of updates on US government response to Ebola in Africa indicate some problem?
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org October 22nd, 2014 at 23:40
The sad and frustrating thing is the World Health Organization knows exactly what needs to be done in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone: Official WHO Ebola toll near 5,000 with true number nearer 15,000
Over the last few days I have searched in vain for information on the American response to Ebola in Africa and have found nothing!
fahvel October 23rd, 2014 at 03:12
the French are there!!!
floyd[@]greenfloyd.org October 23rd, 2014 at 04:10
That’s good and I understand the Cubans have been there all along. I failed to note above that some rich Americans have made impressive financial contributions in recent days. I wonder if the lack of updates on US government response to Ebola in Africa indicate some problem?