Mr. Duncan knew he was exposed to Ebola. The more interesting question is

[TorchTheWitch]

46. yes, really

It makes no difference to me when he was exposed to Ebola. Though he said he was going to the US just to visit he abruptly quit his job with no explanation before leaving for the US. The guy was in a hot zone. I don't blame him for wanting to get the hell out... geez, anyone would. I don't believe that this was just a very conveniently timed "visit". His son had been trying to convince him for awhile to come to the US, and I can certainly see why he would want to.

Once he was exposed though he KNEW he was exposed yet also knew that he'd never get on a plane when questioned at the airport if he'd said he'd been exposed. So, he said nothing about that to get on the plane nor did he when he first went to the hospital here. In a way, I can also understand that he would be afraid of being sent back if he'd admitted that he knew he'd been exposed and kept that information to himself in order to get here.

And I totally understand his wanting to get out, his plan to do it and not telling anyone he knew he'd been exposed in order to get on the plane, and when he first went to the hospital. There's know way he didn't know he'd been exposed. He's not some basic superstitious villager. He had a good job, a passport, family in the US, and would have read the news. He was also in a very fortunate position to get out and have somewhere to go with modern medicine and hospitals not up to their eyeballs with Ebola victims.

In his shoes I can't deny that I wouldn't do the same, and I understand his fear of saying he knew he'd been exposed in either trying to get here or once he did get here. I would also have lied to get on that plane, but once I got here I would have run straight to the hospital and tell them I was afraid that I had been exposed, and please isolate and treat me. But I also live here and know that I wouldn't be jailed or in any other sort of trouble or worse, sent back, and I can absolutely understand that he wouldn't know that and would have been afraid of it... far better for him if he says he had no idea he'd been exposed and rely on American medicine to realize what he had.

I can see his being terrified that the hospital didn't recognize what was wrong with him after telling him where he had just come from and being sent home, because that's not what the media and the CDC had been saying. They were all saying that hospitals were prepared and would recognize any possible Ebola victims. He'd just been through taking a member of his landlord's family where he also lived to the hospital and her being turned away to die that night back at home and her family members and neighbors also falling ill in a devastating chain reaction and had been assured by media and the CDC that it was impossible for that to happen here and that hospitals were all on the ball and would know if someone had presented with Ebola. But that's not what happened. He, too, ended up turned away, and I can completely understand how that terrified him and still keeping his mouth shut about his exposure. I can also understand his family still claiming they and him had no clue that he had Ebola. But there's no way that he didn't know or that they didn't.

I can see this from both sides... him and his family being afraid of admitting that he came here knowing he'd been exposed and not telling the hospital as well as peoples' anger about his exposing others and knowingly bringing it here. But putting yourself in his shoes and his likely fear that had he admitted once he got here that he knew he'd been exposed and kept his mouth shut about it for fear of being sent back or jailed or who knows what I can't say I wouldn't have done the same. Hell, were it me I'd be so much in terror that I would have done anything on earth to get on that plane and the fear of not knowing what would happen to me if I'd admitted to anyone that I'd known I'd been exposed, yeah, I would probably also have lied like a rug and believed that the hospital would know what I had. Self-preservation is extremely powerful, and it's in all of us.