The ominously growing Ebola outbreak has taken a turn for the Orwellian.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a ubiquitous media presence of late, made the talk show rounds again this morning to ease public anxiety about the possibility of the outbreak getting worse.
In one of his appearances, Fauci was a guest on ABC News' "This Week" and his remarks surely left some viewers wincing.
Guest host Martha Raddatz appeared skeptical in response to efforts by Fauci and fellow guest Richard Besser, ABC News medical editor and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to reassure the American public that the outbreak is under control --
RADDATZ: Let me talk about public trust and that's what I was trying to get out with Jim (Ryan, reporter with ABC News Radio, Raddatz alluding to his reporting earlier in the program) as well. We've heard all of this (alluding to assurances by Fauci and Besser), you know, you'll be fine, everybody will be fine, we're very professional, this isn't West Africa. The public trust has to be eroded right now, saying, wait a minute, someone who wasn't even at high risk got it.
FAUCI: Yeah, but Martha, I think that we need to separate into two issues. One is the public trust of we're not going to have an outbreak in this country because this country is not West Africa, versus, taking care of a specific patient under a protocol that might unfortunately get a health care worker infected. Those are really two different things because the contact tracing that has gone on now regarding Mr. Duncan has actually put umbrella over the people who came into contact, they're being followed. The system worked in this women, as tragic as it is if someone gets infected, she was on voluntary self-monitoring, she found she got infected and she immediately did what she was supposed to have done, was to be reporting it. So even in this troublesome situation, the system is working regarding preventing an outbreak.
So much for all those previous assurances, from President Obama, media outlets such as MSNBC, and public health officials, that the odds of Ebola reaching America were too low to measure. Now it's hit twice here, the second time against a medical worker in protective gear, and we're still told we have nothing to fear but our silly, irrational anxiety.
The good doctor appears lacking in bedside manner. Fauci just told the woman who was diagnosed with this horrible disease -- I've got bad news and good news. The bad news -- you've got Ebola. The good news? The system worked!
Efforts to contain damage to the Obama administration from the outbreak appear no more successful than efforts to contain Ebola.
