Shriver, Kuehl differ on L.A. County response to Ebola threat

In a feisty radio debate Wednesday, Los Angeles County supervisorial candidate Bobby Shriver suggested that the county’s response to the emerging Ebola crisis has been too sluggish, prompting rival Sheila Kuehl to say he was unnecessarily scaring the public.

The two are competing to replace retiring west county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky on the five-member Board of Supervisors in the Nov. 4 election.

During a taped debate hosted by Warren Olney on KCRW’s “Which Way LA?,” Shriver said the county should move “very, very quickly” to name a permanent replacement for the former county public health chief, Dr. Jonathan Fielding, who announced his retirement in March.

Supervisors appointed an interim director, Cynthia Harding.

“With the whole Ebola thing happening, there is no screening going on at LAX,’’ Shriver said. “You can fly from West Africa [to] London, change planes and fly to LAX right now. The federal officials need to get on that in a very aggressive way and the county needs to make sure that the public health practices that are in place here are sufficient.”

Kuehl interrupted, noting that the county had a second-in-command in place and that it would be better to wait to hire the right person than to rush to fill the position. “We don’t want to scare the public,’’ Kuehl said.

But Shriver, who worked for years to provide medicines to Africans infected with HIV/AIDs, persisted. “People have got to pay attention,’’ he told Olney. “This is a serious matter and the county needs to be seriously focused on it.”

After the debate, which airs tonight at 7 p.m., Shriver clarified that he believes the same type of screenings for Ebola symptoms taking place at airports in New York, Chicago and Atlanta should be conducted at LAX.

That’s a federal responsibility, he said, but if he were supervisor he would be pressing officials in Washington, D.C., to expand the airport screening. Shriver said he thinks the county in general should be doing much more to inform the public.

“Someone from the county should hold a press conference and tell people what plans are in place, what plans are not in place, call the feds if necessary and call whoever is managing LAX and San Francisco International to ask if proper precautions are in place,’’ he said.

Kuehl, reached after their joint appearance, said the county’s response so far has been adequate. Public health officials have trained health providers in hospitals, clinics and emergency rooms about screening for Ebola and in the use of protective gear should it be detected, she said.

“People are understandably concerned,’’ Kuehl said. “But simply saying the county is not moving fast enough is not only erroneous but irresponsible.”

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