Experts: All It Takes to Get Past the Airport's Temperature-Screening is a Lie and a Handful of Ibuprofin

Ah, of course.

From MSNBC:

"The fever-screening instruments run low and aren't that accurate," said infection control specialist Sean Kaufman, president of Behavioral-Based Improvement Solutions, a biosafety company based in Atlanta. "And people can take ibuprofen to reduce their fever enough to pass screening, and why wouldn't they? If it will get them on a plane so they can come to the United States and get effective treatment after they’re exposed to Ebola, wouldn’t you do that to save your life?"

So the only safety mechanism we have in place can be defeated by thirty cents worth of a medication available in every pharmacy on the face of the earth.

Mark Krikorian says ban travel from affected countries now.

Why aren't we?

I'll tell you our problem: Much of our political class is simply uncomfortable with the idea that border and immigration controls should be used vigorously and unapologetically to protect Americans. You can hear the objections now: It would be xenophobic, it might stigmatize West Africans, those countries will object to our State Department that they’re being discriminated against.

The Dallas paper headlined a story today "Ebola's arrival in U.S. was inevitable, experts say," which included this bit:

Dr. Edward Goodman, hospital epidemiologist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, said he was not surprised that the Ebola virus came to his doorstep, given the number of cases in Africa.

There is "plenty of opportunity for people to fly over and come to any part of the United States," he told reporters Tuesday.

Only if we allow it.

I can't help noticing that when the president doesn't want to take an action, like banning travel from infected countries, the media is eager to report his claim that ebola's spread in the US is "unlikely;" but then, after ebola does spread in the US, the same media rushes in to absolve him of blame, claiming ebola's spread to be "inevitable."

"Unlikely," "inevitable." Rather different words, aren't they?

Obama (and the political class) do not want to shut down travel from West Africa for the same reason abortion extremists insist that it's okay to perform post-birth abortions.

Because giving an inch on the extreme case -- even giving an inch on the most indefensible part of your agenda -- is thought to create some momentum against the more defensible parts of your agenda.

They don't want to give an inch on partial-birth abortions because they don't want to give an inch on non-partial-birth abortions.

In the case of a West Africa travel ban, this could create some small amount of political momentum, as Krikorian suggests, towards controlling our borders in other cases -- for example, controlling illegal immigration at our southern border.

Which, by the way, is at least suspected of being the pathway for the enterovirus which is now leaving American kids paralyzed. (Hm, I don't hear any loud calls for an investigation to discover how enterovirus entered the United States.)

So, because Obama (and other members of the political class) can't risk the slightest nod in the direction of controlling our border -- they have too many political chips riding on that bet -- we're all just going to have run the risk of a little ebola.

We're just gonna have to hope.

posted by Ace at 11:22 AM

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