Just about a year ago, an outbreak of the deadly disease started jumping borders. Just about everybody freaked out.
Only a handful of cases made it to American shores. And, mostly what people worried about sounded more like the stuff out of a Hollywood movie. Still, there were legitimate concerns.
What was scarier was a White House response that was slow and wrong-headed. Not much of a confidence builder for folks worried about mass death.
When the outbreak subsided, the president and just about everyone else stopped stressing out.
Well, keep worrying. New cases of Ebola have been reported.
“While the virus is spreading more slowly than at the peak last year and Liberia has defeated the outbreak,” according to one news source, “cases have risen sharply in the past two weeks in Guinea and Sierra Leone.” There are also concerns that the region may not be much better prepared to stem an outbreak than it was last year.
The last time the disease threated to come here from there, the president appointed an Ebola czar when the bad press got really bad. The czar did little and left when the bad press died down.
Meanwhile, there is much needed to improve the U.S. response to a mass disease threat. It is debatable that the Oval Office cares much.
As a result, freaking out about Ebola may become summer fare once again.
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