Readers React: Some perspective on Ebola in the U.S.

To the editor: It’s not the “latest Ebola case” that raises anxiety for people in the U.S.; rather, it’s TV news reports and newspapers that have beaten the story to death, over and over, that raise our anxiety. We have had only one Ebola death in the United States and only one confirmed case of a person actually contracting the disease in this country. (“New Ebola case in Texas raises worries about U.S. health system,” Oct. 13)

Also in Monday’s paper was a small article about five people being shot to death in some small U.S. town. I, for one, am much more anxious about the lack of gun control in the U.S. than Ebola, as firearms kill more Americans than Ebola ever will.

Why don’t you make that story the crisis of the week and beat it to death?

Theodore Ury, San Juan Capistrano

..

To the editor: I spent most of September in Southern Africa and, unlike the United States, the three nations I visited are taking the threat of Ebola seriously.

All arriving passengers in Johannesburg are scanned by an infrared device to detect fevers. In Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, I was asked whether I had been to West Africa and was given a brochure on Ebola. At the Botswana border, a team of white-coated health professionals quizzed each arriving passenger.

While these measures are no doubt imperfect, why is a government run by the thuggish Robert Mugabe more vigilant than President Obama and our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? Why not quarantine, at least temporarily, those coming from the infected region as a precautionary measure?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Craig Harrison, Santa Rosa

..

To the editor: Nothing in this world is fail-safe. As Murphy’s Law tells us, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

That is why the only way to stop new cases of the deadly Ebola virus from entering into the United States is to suspend all flights to and from Ebola-infected countries and impose a visa ban on travelers from those areas. Otherwise, we can expect that there will be even more “breaches” in health, safety and security as the virus continues to spread.

JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater, Fla.

..

To the editor: How about people stop texting and driving, get their flu shots, vaccinate their children, carry an updated list of their medication in their wallets, stop smoking, exercise for 30 minutes daily and stop drinking soda?

Instead of “protecting us from Ebola,” we need to “protect us from ourselves.”

Gregory Morales, MD, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion