Readers React: A heartbreaking picture of Ebola devastation in West Africa

To the editor: I don’t know if I have ever felt more sympathy for any person than to see young Liberian Mercy Kennedy alone after losing her mother to Ebola. The picture of her in distress makes you care about her so much. (“Texas Ebola patient aided Liberia woman thought to have malaria,” Oct. 2)

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FOR THE RECORD:
A previous version of the photo caption incorrectly said the Liberian capital city of Monrovia is in Libya.

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I hope she finds a way to a good life.

Steve Orton, La Crescenta

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To the editor: The Statue of Liberty long has borne this inscription: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Those iconic words come to mind in considering how Thomas Eric Duncan managed to escape Ebola-plagued Liberia and settle in what’s known as the “Ellis Island of Dallas.”

Duncan apparently had good cause to suspect he’d been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus. He therefore may have preferred to take refuge and seek succor in a country known to have healthcare facilities far superior to those available in Liberia.

Nowhere on the Statue of Liberty does it state “Give me your pestilences and contagions.” Whatever one’s view on immigration reform, every effort should be made to ensure that other new arrivals aren’t carrying the Ebola virus.

Dennis M. Malone, Concord, Calif.

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To the editor: Thank you for Robyn Dixon’s article on the Liberian family helped by Duncan, the Dallas Ebola patient. By reporting from Liberia, Dixon probably risked her life to give us human details, including the names of those who helped and later died.

Likewise, kudos for Molly Hennessy-Fiske’s compassionate reporting on the Jallahs in Dallas.

This is journalism at its best. Long live The Times.

Betsy Lawlor, Riverside

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