By Haley Whitt ’15

With the emergence of Ebola in the United States last month, MCPS took action to address any fears and anxieties of students and staff. As a result of concerns, MCPS developed a plan to address any suspected case of the virus in a student, according to an article in The Gazette.
Previously, any student with a temperature would have his or her parents called to pick him or her up. Now, additionally, if the student has a fever, health officials ask the parent about travel history. If travel history includes areas affected by Ebola, the student would be isolated in a quarantined area of the health room. From there, disease control staff talk to the parent(s) to determine whether or not the student would be taken to the hospital.
In the 1970s, the Ebola virus was discovered in Africa and quickly escalated to an outbreak. In 2014, this epidemic resurfaced in Guinea, West Africa. It quickly spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia, where thousands have been morbidly affected with the virus.
Eventually, Ebola made its way into Dallas when Thomas Duncan began showing symptoms approximately one week after he returned from Liberia. He unknowingly transferred the virus to one of his nurses before he died. The nurse became very ill with Ebola, but she was treated and cured at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda. Another one of the Dallas nurses contracted the virus as well. She was treated and cured at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Recently, Ebola emerged in New York, where a doctor returning from Africa contracted the virus. According to hospital officials, he is in serious but stable condition, and is improving.
On the MCPS website, a page is dedicated solely to Ebola. There are many links providing students, parents and staff with accurate information regarding the disease. The Ebola Fact Sheets include detailed information on transmission of the virus, signs and symptoms and more. In addition, Principal Bill Gregory sent home a letter on October 28 to parents regarding the virus and how to take preventative measures to keep students safe. Despite common misconceptions, Ebola is not airborne and therefore can only be transferred through infected bodily fluids. The risk of contracting the Ebola virus in Maryland is still extremely low.
The global effects of the virus are damaging, both economically in poor countries, and physically in loss of lives, but Ellen Sirleaf, President of Liberia, has proposed an extremely ambitious goal of having no new Ebola cases by December 25. Given the figure that the number of new cases in Liberia has declined recently, this goal seemingly becomes more probable.
According to an article at Mashable.com, “European countries and the United Nations Children’s Fund donated 160 vehicles, 80 containers, and 1200 tons of supplies for humanitarian agencies.” These efforts are highly appreciated, but results of how much this helps the cause is unclear.
“The United Nations system will continue to scale up our response until the very last case of Ebola is identified and treated,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.