This was written by the police chief of our neighboring town Brimfield (see my post above for why that's significant):
"Dear Centers of Disease Control,
Well…I might as well join the crowd, I guess. I am not a doctor nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. Since everyone in the government and press is firing up all of our friends over the Ebola cases, I thought that a small town police chief without a medical degree would offer some leadership to your organization. Heaven forbid someone in the government takes a leadership role. Gasp!
By the very name of your organization, you folks control diseases. I have to ask a question, and risk sounding argumentative. Here it goes.
You all REALLY could not isolate and control ONE case of Ebola? It was ONE case on U.S. soil. One!! You are the Centers for Disease CONTROL!!! Now, local authorities are being deluged with calls and have to do your work. That is just fine. We are accustomed to it. It is typical federal behavior. Pass the problem downwards, refuse blame and take credit. I have seen it hundreds of times in my career. No worries. I will offer some facts for the public, as if it were my job.
Ebola is a disease named for the Ebola River in Africa. One of the early cases was near the river. It is transmitted through contact with the body fluids of an infected person or animal. In an illness situation, since there is not usually a lot of smooching going on, we will say do not touch the regurgitation , feces or blood of one who has the disease.
Outbreaks occur every so often and the disease has killed a somewhere around 4,000 people since the discovery in the mid 1970s. As a comparison, about 2,100 people have died from lightning strikes during the same time period. People doing their own home electric work accounted for 5,240 deaths in that period. Animals have killed approximately 9,320 people since the mid 1970s. So, while I have a healthy respect for death, I am more likely to be killed by an elephant or reticulated python than Ebola. Nevertheless, the constant barrage of Ebola information and your inability to control ONE CASE of this illness has everyone on edge.
Here is my plan for stopping this nonsense. Use what you will.
1) Stop flying people here from infected countries. It sounds simple to me. Oh...LIberia to Dallas flight? Cancelled.
2) Isolate the cases you have and listen to your nurses. They are the folks who work most closely with patients. The doctors spend about five seconds with a patient. They sashay in, look around and then leave. It is an expensive runway walk, believe me. Nurses are the police officers of the Ebola world. You all are the congressmen.
3) Stop changing the story. The American people are suspicious by nature, because we have a 200+ year history of the government lying and engaging in cover up. You made that culture, so you have to live with it. Tell us the truth and stop changing the story. The truth is the truth. It is non-negotiable.
Carry on….Chief Oliver."
