Memorandum on the Ebola Outbreak

Memorandum on the Ebola Outbreak

TO: President Barack Obama
FROM: Leonard Field
DATE: September 8, 2014
RE: Decision on the Ebola Outbreak

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Introduction

The Ebola virus outbreak in Western Africa requires immediate action by the United States. The outbreak is spreading at unprecedented levels across the continent since it was first identified earlier this year. The outbreak has swept through several nations in Western Africa with a significant chance of reaching other nations such as the United States. To combat the outbreak abroad and the possible outbreak domestically, I strongly urge the President to prepare and lead the nation and the world in the fight against the virus.

Current Status of Western Africa

17,401 cases and 6,482 deaths have been reported in the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Guinea alone since January of this year. Estimations of the transmission rate of the virus expect it to continue to rise sharply in the coming months. Senegal's Ministry of Public Health reported a case of Ebola on August 29 and the Democratic Republic of Congo has reported unrelated cases of the virus. A Center for Disease Control worker was sent home following low risk exposure to the virus two days ago on September 6.

Implementation

The United States is at too great a risk of possible infection with the Ebola virus to continue its current course of action. The United States must implement a travel warning to affected and surrounding nations and a mandatory forty-two day quarantine for those returning from the infected and surrounding nations. In addition to this quarantine, if a case of the Ebola virus is detected, the patient must be sent to the nearest care facility with the means to treat the virus as best they can until a vaccine is discovered. Caregivers must be sterilized and observed at all times to prevent the spread of the virus. The United States must not only continue but increase its financial support for Health and Human Services and National Institute of Health, both of which are developing experimental drugs for clinical and human trials in early September. The Department of Defense, the State Department, USAID, and the CDC are working together and must continue to along with funds allocated to outside parties. Once this crisis resolved, it is the duty of the United States to prevent further outbreaks of this scale from happening again.

Closing Remarks

With the Ebola outbreak not contained, it will quickly spread to multiple countries and continents. This will lead to widespread infection and panic among the populations of various nations. If allowed into the United States and left untreated, thousands will die as a result. It is our duty to the American people to prevent any further contamination and resolve this crisis before it reaches our shores.

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 25, 2018 at 7:17 PM

    Leo, the outbreak of Ebola is a threat to all just as you put it and I would say that a threat to multiple continents and countries should be dealt with by the World Health Organization. I know within the countries that Ebola has affected the WHO has not done much to help stop the outbreak, but with the help of a country like the United States it could cause more of a fight to make the WHO do more. Not only can the United States battle it within its borders and try and stop it from coming onto this continent, but the WHO can create a chain of countries that could join in the battle. These implementations should be taken into account, but I would say another actor should be leading the fight.

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  2. Renee RadavichFebruary 26, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    Leo, I agree with your statement that the United States needs to do more to prevent the Ebola virus spreading into this country. I am skeptical and a little confused about your comment about how it is the United States' duty to prevent outbreaks in the future. As we have seen in the past, it is extremely hard to pinpoint when a virus or disease will mutate and spread which is why we continually see flu-related deaths, among other things. Therefore, I would question what you mean by preparing for future outbreaks. Do you mean monetarily prepare or something more? Would we have to intervene in a country every time a virus presents itself?
    With this being said, I do not believe the United States is the one best equipped to be dealing with further outbreaks. I agree that we should give more money to research, like you said, but I would be fearful of the United States stretching itself too thin if we were to head such a large project, especially since viruses are so unpredictable. Overall though, I like this memo, as there was a lot of panic in the United States at the height of the Ebola outbreak and something needed to be done.

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  3. UnknownMarch 1, 2018 at 10:23 AM

    Leo, great memo and great proposal! I agree that we need to send our own personnel into the countries affected by the virus. The WHO has tried to contain the virus, however, they are not equipped enough to deal with such an outbreak. We need to send doctors, nurses, and troops (to maintain order) to help stop the outbreak of the virus. The people in the affected countries have suffered for too long and need our help.
    Like Renee said, I also do not think we are equipped enough to deal with a different virus outbreak. We need to work on preventing these outbreaks from happening. I like what she said about funding research into these diseases. On top of that, we also need to educate the people to understand how disease spread and what to do if they do end up with a series virus. Well done Leo! Keep up the work.

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  4. UnknownMarch 4, 2018 at 7:49 PM

    Leo, I might be in the dissenting opinion of the room, but your points are really great and hard to argue; but I would disagree with the fact to send troops to deal with Ebola. When Obama sent troops into the areas affected, he used the terms fight, and we had troops dying to gunfire and not viruses. I believe his aim was to fight the terror group Boko Haram, as they are in the same area. He used the excuse of humanitarian action to cover up the fact he was most likely sending troops to fight the group but I digress. I do not see how our intervention would be of help when NGO's are specifically designed for these issues. If they cannot handle it, then they must look inward as a result and prepare for these situations much better. The US should use this as a warning that we might not be ready, this is where I agree with you. We must be on alert and ready for these outbreaks, because they have happened in the past and will happen in the future, and we must be ready to deal with them. Excellent post!

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