Argumentative Essay On Ebola

Imagine if the ebola outbreak happened in the United States. The threat of a widespread virus across the US is very real. With the Zika virus and ebola going on, we need to be as prepared as possible here in America. The US is not ready for a pandemic, and here are some reasons why. The American hospitals are not ready for a pandemic. In Dallas, Texas, hospital workers sent a man who had been to an ebola-infected country and had been showing signs of illness, home for two days. “The US response to ebola has not been perfect -- witnessed by the fact that the Dallas hospital did not at first diagnose the man with ebola and sent him home for two days.” (Jonsson, Patrik) The hospital in Dallas made a very careless and dangerous decision. A decision like this could be very serious during a pandemic. Discharging people infected with a virus will cause it to spread more rapidly. The virus can spread at school. With school open during the pandemic, viruses will easily spread from child to child. The infected children will then go home and infect their other family members. “In conclusion, the protracted spread of pandemic influenza in fall 2009 in the US was dominated by short-distance spatial spread partially catalyzed by the school openings rather than long-distance transmission events.”
(Gog, Julia R.) This quote supports the idea that school openings make the pandemic worse. School openings will cause the virus to spread rapidly. The government would not allow for schools to be closed to prevent the spread of the disease. Some people may not be able to receive proper health care. People who do not speak English may not be able to get the proper medical attention they need. They may not be able to communicate with the health care providers. “Disparities in access to health care remained significant for Spanish-speaking Hispanics after controlling for other demographic factors.” (Quinn, Sandra Crouse) This will cause the disease to spread among minorities in the country at a fast rate. Health care is not available for everyone. We have no way to properly prepare for a pandemic. Each pandemic is different. There is no way we can accurately prepare for one because we don’t know what it’ll be like. “Use of this updated framework in anticipated to improve pandemic preparedness and response in the United. States. Activities and decisions during a response are event-specific.” (Holloway, Rachel) Every pandemic is different. Symptoms, the way it spreads, and the rate at which symptoms start to show. The US can not prepare for a pandemic because of this reason. The US does not have all the supplies needed.
If a pandemic occurred in the US, thousands of people would be hospitalized. They would run out of supplies and might not be able to replace them fast enough. “For pandemics with a lower attack rate and fewer cases (eg, 2009-like pandemic), the number of respirators needed would be higher because the pandemic would have a longer duration. Providing these numbers of respirators and surgical masks represents a logistic challenge for US public health agencies.” (Carias, Cristina) The pandemic might go on for a long time. The US would eventually run out of medical supplies. The US could not stock up enough supplies to last an entire
pandemic. A US hospital sent a man with ebola home for two days, schools would stay open, some people would not receive proper health care, every pandemic is different, and hospitals would run out of supplies. There is a lot of evidence supporting the idea that the US is not ready for a pandemic to occur. With pandemics such as Zika and ebola threatening the world, the US needs to be as prepared as possible to protect its citizens.