Story by Catherine Hutinett
Ebola is a hot topic right now, but is Ebola as serious in the United States as it is in Africa? Students weighed in.
“In other countries that are not as rich as America, like Libera, it is a problem, but people here over exaggerate its seriousness,” said Sophomore Madi Sieger.
Many students said they agree that Ebola is not as big of a problem in the United States as it is in West Africa.
“If our government wants to take control over the situation, then they can,” said Sophomore Melanie Anderson. “We have bigger problems in the United States than Ebola. People are just overreacting.”
Sophomore Clara Knipp said there are financial differences between America and West Africa. “If I am hungry, I can easily find something to eat quickly. In Africa, kids die from diarrhea or hunger. We have the money and the resources to treat Ebola.”
Some students said they think we should at least try to do something even if Ebola cannot impact us directly.
“It is serious, it is deadly, but Ebola is not relevant to us. We should help, it is the right thing to do, but there is only so much we can do. Kind of like AIDS,” said Junior Emily Wiencek.
“Ebola is serious because there is not a cure, but a while ago people were refusing the help of doctors. If they don’t want our help, then there is not much we can do,” said Senior Kelsey Shanahan.
Some students said they saw the importance of a cure.
“We need to find a reliable cure for it, because if it breaks out here, a lot of people could die,” said Freshman Jessica Norris.
“Even if America is overreacting nurses and doctors should be put into quarantine, after returning from Africa, without a choice,” said Junior Katelyn Oren. “We should rather be safe than sorry.”
“I hate when people joke about [Ebola]. It is kind of annoying. [Ebola] is not something to joke about, even though we do not need to worry about it until it starts to spread rapidly through America,” said Freshman Brianna Grigsby.
As of the last week of November, it was reported by the CDC and the World Health Organization, that only five people have died from Ebola outside of Africa. In Africa there have been about 17,000 cases of Ebola and about 7,000 deaths caused by the disease.
Photo by Katie Britton-Mehlisch
