After recent lapses in protocol and judgement allowed a Texas hospital nurse to travel on commercial flights and expose potentially thousands to the deadly Ebola virus, many are beginning to seriously call in to question how the U.S. government has responded to the first ever cases of Ebola on U.S. soil. In particular, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thomas Frieden, is facing scrutiny over how he has handled this crisis.
After the first diagnosis of Ebola in the U.S. was made last month in Texas, Frieden seemed to anticipate that additional cases in the U.S. were possible. The issue that many have is how both the CDC and officials at the Texas hospital that housed Thomas Eric Duncan and the two nurses who contracted the virus from him have responded since then. Whatever protocols were put in place failed, either because they weren't enforced or because they weren't adequate. At any rate, Frieden can expect to take the brunt of the blame, being the nation's top health official.
Before this recent Ebola crisis, the CDC was renowned for its ability to handle public health scares, like the H1N1 flu crisis in 2009. Yet beginning earlier last summer, that reputation took a hit when it was reported that CDC scientists had improperly handled anthrax and avian flu samples at the organization's headquarters.
Now, with most agreeing that the Texas health care workers who provided direct care to Duncan should not have traveled, the CDC and Frieden have taken a major hit. Frieden's repeated claims that things are under control while new damning revelations about CDC missteps have come to light have done nothing to calm the panic spreading throughout the U.S. public.
CDC spokesperson Barbara Reynolds commented on the issue of keeping the public informed: "We believe that we have an obligation to share information when we have it and recognize the changing nature of the ongoing response. We balance the need to share information quickly with the desire of many to eliminate uncertainty."
Unfortunately, few would agree that the CDC has done that thus far during this recent Ebola crisis.
"Without question communicating plainly and completely at the same time is always a challenge, but particularly so when people are confronted with a new risk such as Ebola," Reynolds said.
The issue remains that CDC statements have recently been contradicted by events that quickly follow them, like when Frieden claimed that any hospital with an isolation ward would be able to stop Ebola from spreading.
