Safe, not sorry: There's no reason not to take Ebola precautions now

Hearing the news out of Dallas this morning would have made just about anyone's heart beat a little faster.

Americans expect that their health care system should be able to handle anything -- even an outbreak of a deadly disease that is crippling West Africa.

And perhaps it can handle such a catastrophe. Perhaps there is no reason to be worried.

But there is also no reason not to take precautions and to rehearse procedures right now.

If Ebola should hit, hospitals, health departments and the federal and state governments should be ready.

And if the federal government cannot get its act together, it should be up to local and state leaders to make sure that they have the procedures and safety measures in place to make sure their states are ready.

Running drills, increasing training and making sure we have plans here and across North Carolina is Job 1.

Even if Ebola does not threaten this nation, there might be something else down the road that we cannot even imagine. Getting ready and thinking proactively are what we need to do now -- right now.

And if we cannot get federal health officials who can do the same, we need new ones, right now.

Published in Editorials on October 15, 2014 11:02 AM