United States Congressman Mark Sanford recently appeared on The Bryan Crabtree Show to talk about the Ebola crisis that’s caused fear in people all over the world. Sanford recently attended a Congressional hearing put on by the United States Department of Homeland Security to discuss the Ebola epidemic.
“I walked away with, frankly, as many questions as I did answers from the hearing,” stated Sanford. “You had a cross section of different experts from the federal and local level: first responders, medical experts and CDC experts were all there.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 2014 Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa.
On October 8th, Thomas Eric Duncan, a patient in Dallas who was being treated for Ebola, died from the virus. Four days later, hospital officials confirmed that the Texas Presbyterian Hospital nurse treating Duncan tested positive for Ebola.
“One of the points they made is that everybody said it was difficult to contract. You can only contract it from a live host and some exchange of bodily fluid,” stated Sanford. “If that’s the case, then why is everybody wearing a space suit? What folks have been telling me here at home is, ‘Wait a minute. I’m seeing people in space suits, and I don’t have a space suit. I think there’s a disconnect there.”
On the air, Crabtree asked Sanford who he thought is responsible for keeping the country safe from Ebola and to that Sanford said that duty belongs to the president.
“In times of war, you have real executive prerogative, and it seems to me you’ve got a war with Ebola going on right now, so there’s executive prerogative,” stated Sanford.
After Duncan passed away from the virus, there was a massive effort to sanitize his apartment.
“They actually went in there, cleaned it out and took out 140 fifty-five gallon drums of high-level waste that was later incinerated,” stated Sanford. “Now wait a minute. If you can only catch it from a living host, then why are we taking the apartment down to the studs and cleaning it out?”
According to Sanford, the question he hears most often from constituents is ‘why are people still being allowed to travel to that part of the world?’
“At the end of the day, it’s tragic what’s happening. This is the largest Ebola outbreak ever. More than 8,000 people have contracted the disease, and of that more than 4,000 have already died,” stated Sanford. “It’s not that hard to say we’re going to deny travel visas if you happen to be in one of the those three countries where this has become such a nightmare for a lot of families.”
As world leaders and health experts try to combat the virus, Sanford doesn’t believe South Carolina residents have anything to worry about.
“I think the people are quite safe here in South Carolina—unless there’s a freighter that comes in from Liberia and somebody has it and passes it to a dock worker,” stated Sanford.
