Why would anyone panic over a very ill person

[MineralMan]

33. We have an annual epidemic of influenza.

I get vaccinated each year as soon as the vaccine is available Ebola is not only not an epidemic in the United States, it's highly unlikely to become one here, due to its limited method of transmission and our less primitive living conditions. Although there is no vaccine available for Ebola, the likelihood of the kind of physical contact required for transmission would militate against there being any real risk to most Americans.

Back in the 1970s, a relatively close friend of mine contracted anthrax and died in California. She was a textile artist and had purchased a shipment of uncombed wool from somewhere outside the United States. The wool contained anthrax spores and she developed the disease and died from it. I had very limited contact with her during that time period, and no other cases were reported, despite her being treated in a local hospital. She was the only case from that exposure, and anthrax is far more contagious than Ebola.

I did visit her in the hospital while she was ill. She was in an isolation unit, and I had to gown and mask up to enter. Sadly, that was the last time I saw her, but I was not particularly concerned about the exposure, since adequate protection was supplied by the restrictions. The same situation applies to these hospitalized Ebola patients. They pose little risk to others, given the isolation protocols in use.

Influenza? That's another matter. Very dangerous, yet we commonly ignore that risk as a population.