re: #314 NJDhockeyfan

Pandering for votes. In an election year, even as health experts and anyone who bothers to look at a map would recognize that there isn’t a threat of someone flying into the US (let alone NH) from Sierra Leone, Liberia, or Guinea. There are no direct flights.

None.

You’d have to transfer somewhere else first, and if you’ve got screening at the airports for temperature, you might catch people who are sick from ailments unrelated to Ebola, and possibly miss someone who isn’t yet symptomatic, which makes temp checks unreliable.

The low transmissibility also makes it exceptionally tough to get - Duncan’s fiance didn’t get Ebola, even after he was actively showing symptoms for two days (fever, vomiting, etc.).

But since politicians have elections to win, they’ll stake out nonsensical positions to appear that they’re doing something about a “hot button” issue that has in fact little relevance to actual events or the jurisdiction in question.

If Shaheen wants to be at forefront of health policy, she would be demanding that everyone get vaccinated for the flu and other diseases for which vaccines are available, which kills more people than Ebola infections worldwide so far (or which infects several magnitudes more than total Ebola infections ever). Or she could push for more people to be heart healthy, or question firearms accessibility.

But she’s going the “easy” route by seeking out flight bans. From countries that don’t have direct flights to the US.