AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION

The only people to catch Ebola in this country were two of the nurses who cared for the guy who came in from West Africa and died in the hospital in Dallas, Texas. That guy did not infect anybody at home, though they were all quarantined for 21 days after his hospitalization.

The nurses who treated him traipsed about here and there for days before becoming symptomatic. Yet they infected nobody and after treatment are now well.

Ebola is a bad, bad disease, but not that easy to catch.

A person in the early stages (fever, etc.) is not infectious. This is not at all like HIV, where an infected idiot can recruit you to his team even though he shows no symptoms and may not even know he's sick.

Not the case with Ebola—when you have it, you bloody well know it!

Fortunately, you have to be really far gone before you can infect anyone, and only then if they come in direct contact with the slobber of your drooling body—blood, sweat, saliva, puke, poop and urine. Baring that, folks can lie next to you in the same room without any harm coming to them. There is no airborne transmission.

A number of states have implemented quarantines for persons exposed to Ebola, even though it's entirely unnecessary. All those exposed to Ebola have to do is check their temperature. An elevated temperature is an early warning sign that tells you when to begin a real quarantine (and treatment).

Before that, there's no risk.

But several state governors have decided they need to be more cautious than that. They don't care about science. They reject science. They know better than any scientist.

They will protect the population of their states with "an abundance of caution." (Which is code for "an idiotic over-reaction.")

These draconian quarantines only fuel the fear of Ebola and stigmatize doctors and nurses who've battled the disease in Africa and elsewhere. The outbreak in Africa must be put down, for the good of us all. But who will want to perform that service now?

Health workers coming back from West Africa, folks who were employed in strictly administrative positions—and never saw, let alone treated, an Ebola patient—are shunned and demonized.

What's next?

Just to be sure we're safe from disease, we'll identify any aircraft approaching the shores of this country from West Africa (or Africa, or anyplace else on earth) and shoot it down when it's far out over the ocean.

After that, anyone who's even heard of Ebola will be tossed directly into the oven by volunteers in hazmat suits—who will then jump into the flames themselves.

Out of an abundance of caution.