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| Photo by Ryan McGuire of Gratisography. Used with permission. |
On an airplane, I’m that
person. The one who immediately upon boarding pulls out a Wet Wipe (or two) and
disinfects all the hard surfaces I might touch during the flight. Seatbelt
buckle. Arm rests. Tray table. Tray table latch. Window frame (in case I fall
asleep). Head rests (if they’re not cloth). Air vent knob and overhead light
button. If it’s anywhere past the first of the month, I won’t touch the
in-flight magazine.
You may rightly think you’re reading the diary of a
hypochondriac, but the thing is, people are gross. Germs, especially in close
quarters, pervade. I can’t tell you the number of times as a formerly weekly
flier I’ve been sneezed on in-flight
or watched grubby (and loud darling) children rub snotty fingers all
over seats and windows. Aside from being generally disgusting, this is how
illness spreads. And while I’m annoyed to catch a cold or flu, I admit, I am actually
afraid of Ebola.
Yes, I’ve seen all of those memes flying across the
internets—“more Americans have married Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola”
being my favorite—and I know the odds of dying from regular influenza or in a
car accident or by just about any other means are definitely higher than
catching Ebola. However, those snarky memes hold for our
current situation, where there are but a handful of folks in
quarantine.
Already, we’ve seen new cases of the disease popping up,
with the most frightening to me being a
physician
recently back from treating Ebola patients in Guinea gallivanting around
New York. While the doctor was following protocol, meaning he was checking his
temperature twice a day and reported himself to the health department
immediately upon registering a fever, that guy rode the subway, took cabs, and
visited a bowling alley, all while becoming symptomatic. In the most densely
populated city in the U.S.!
How easy would it have been for him to sneeze and leave
infected droplets on a subway rail? Sure, Ebola doesn’t live long, but in a
place like New York where thousands of people ride the subway all day, how easy
could it be for someone to pick up the bug? And then go about their day having
no idea, and a couple weeks later think they’ve come down with the flu? (If you
want a particularly scary read with lots of Ebola-related science including how
many Ebola particles live in a drop of blood the size of the letter “o,” check
out “
The
Ebola Wars” from
The New Yorker.)
And when we can’t keep control of chains of infection, that’s when
outbreaks start. And
that is what I’m afraid of most.
Yes, I can hear the protests about how I’m paranoid and how
unlikely an Ebola pandemic really is. And man, I hope you’re right! However, I
can’t help this uneasy, unsettling fear that’s lodged in my chest right now, especially
when I think about the
50+ % mortality
rates, and how there is no cure, and how
U.S.
hospitals seem completely unprepared for treating individual cases of Ebola,
let alone a mass outbreak. And if we’re relying on people to quarantine
themselves* and use oh, basic hygiene in public, based upon my years frequent
flying, I worry for our future.
Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood hypochondriac
Labels: contagion, ebola, fears, flying, health, hygiene, NaBloPoMo, outbreak, personal, politics, quarantine