Break Down

As I grow more frustrated with the overlays and post mortems of decisions made months if not a year ago at work and I scan the horizon for an assignment that will be challenging but appreciated, my interests suggested I mention helping out with the latest crisis of Ebola.  I pass the NYT's articles to staff every day, we've hung up pictures of three grads of haz mat suits over the desks, and I thought it was about time to read Robin Cook's Outbreak.

Was it only 1987 when this book scared the stuffing out of us?  How simple it seems now and how James Bondish.  Cook's outline was that the only way for Ebola to come to America was that vial of the virus had to be stolen from CDC but mad scientist/doctors who were evil one percenters looking to keep their money and privileges away from the dreaded new enemy:  HMOs.

The CDC is portrayed as competent but infiltrated with such executives out to protect their wealth and status.  There is obvious cultural bias as they attack doctors coming to America from foreign countries, then the ones most likely to work at HMOs for lower wages.  Well, lets not go there in this review.  It's Ebola now.

In Outbreak, the evil doctors and their henchmen select hospitals at which to expose the virus selecting a doctor to mug and inject.  Exposure does the rest, essentially killing off the hospital staff, lab workers and immediate family.  Other than issues of isolation, Cook does not delve into treatment or containment.

So cycling back to my introductory paragraph, my frustration with politics in my own assignment is magnified a trillion times in the nation's response to Ebola transmission.  There have been so many editorials that I read this weekend that I am not sure this review has not been infected with their ideas and observations.  Specifically, Ebola is not lonely a medical crisis, it has become a crisis of confidence in government.  The CDC has been exposed to be as bureaucratically inept and face saving as the Veterans' Administration, the IRS and the Secret Service.  Lassitude, lack of responsibility, in inability to triage risk and anticipate unintended consequences are no longer factors under consideration on federal and state employees annual appraisals.

The outbreak of Ebola today in 2014 is much scarier than Cook's 25 years ago:  There are no villains to escape from.  We have met the enemy and they are us and us just isn't as talented as before.