Dallas has reached a turning point in the fight against Ebola, with 51 people exposed to the disease passing the 21-day incubation period without infection, meaning they’re in the clear. This certainly comes as a huge relief for them and marks a psychological milestone for the city.
An often-irrational fear spread across the country as Dallas became synonymous with Ebola after Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person diagnosed with the disease on U.S. soil. His symptoms developed a few days after arriving in Dallas on Sept. 20. Dozens were exposed to the disease before he died on Oct. 8.
A separate countdown is still in progress for 116 others who either worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where Duncan died, or who came in contact with Nina Pham or Amber Vinson, two nurses who became infected while caring for Duncan. With each passing day, the chances grow slimmer that more related cases will emerge.
Now is the time for fear to be replaced by compassion. Except for Duncan, Pham and Vinson, none have suffered more through this ordeal than these 51 emerging from isolation, including five Dallas ISD and three Richardson ISD students who are returning to local classrooms. They need to restore as much normality to their lives as possible.
Parents naturally are inclined to protect their children. But we hope none choose to keep them away from affected schools. These returning students need an outpouring of warmth.
Irrational fear is driving people around the country to overreact. The phrase “out of an abundance of caution” has provided cover for responses that border on the absurd.
In Maine, an elementary school teacher was ordered to stay home for three weeks merely because she had attended an education conference in Dallas. A Houston-area teacher was ordered to stay home for three weeks because she had recently traveled to Tanzania — thousands of miles from the zone in West Africa where the Ebola outbreak has occurred.
Duncan’s loved ones have suffered a double dose of severe anxiety, first from being exposed to Ebola and then from Duncan’s death. An overreaction among people living, studying and working around them can only add unnecessarily to their suffering.
Likewise for the dozens of others, mainly in the health care community, who performed their jobs heroically in caring for Duncan. They’re patiently awaiting their own all-clear signals, meaning they pose zero danger of Ebola transmission.
The sooner they’re allowed to get on with their lives, the faster our city’s tattered image can start to recover.
