I bring up Ebola not because it's alarming, but because it used to be alarming. Last year everybody was losing their minds about it, then the weather warmed up, we realized it wasn't the end of the world, and moved on.
Huh? The
weather warmed up? No, the outbreak happened in tropical or sub-tropical countries, I'm sure. It had nothing to do with the weather. Not all viral outbreaks are positively correlated with cold weather.
The reason
the Ebola outbreak in 2014 was a big deal is that it had previously only flared up in isolated areas, and this was the first time it spread into more densely populated, well-connected cities. Because of this, it was the
largest outbreak,
by far, and people honestly didn't know how widely it would spread.
The reason you
stopped hearing about it is because the outbreak was contained and eventually snuffed out. This was accomplished through the diligent work (and funding) of many. And now, there are even Ebola vaccines in use, though I'm not sure how effective they are.
The DRC outbreak is disconnected from that. Ebola, like many viral diseases, has natural reservoirs in the form of certain animal populations.
We are at a point that even the current administration could use a few dozen sick Americans as justification to ask for billions of dollars in 'emergency coronavirus prevention funding', easily get it with little-to-no scrutiny, and use very loose logic to justify using every cent of it on some personal passion project that won't do anything at all to prevent or fight disease.
That's one of the criticisms you hear in congress - that the administration's proposal has been lacking in specifics in how they plan to use the money.
when I say there's a better use of our resources, that really depends on how highly we should prioritize building walls, and who should pay for them.
Congress is not going to write a bill that would allow any of this funding to be used for border walls. I'm sure of that.
And, besides, the President can
apparently use his declared state of emergency to take as much money for it, from pretty much wherever he wants.