James Carville: Just the facts, please: Getting the response right on Ebola

In the past few weeks we have seen quite a few political pundits pontificating about what they would do to handle the Ebola outbreak. This is an overblown crisis and an under-covered humanitarian catastrophe in West Africa, and it’s important that our country focus on the facts in its response.

This week I have decided to introduce and interview my friend and colleague Robert Garry, who was one of the few people out on the front lines in West Africa in the first days combating Ebola there. Garry, who works in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine here in New Orleans, has joined my political science class at Tulane to discuss the impact of Ebola, and his insight is important to share here as well.

{mosads}Question: What do people who know the hard science about Ebola believe is America’s greatest threat?

Answer: It’s no secret that Ebola virus is classified in the highest threat level as bioterrorism agent.

Q: How bad of a humanitarian crisis are we facing in West Africa?

A: This epidemic has the potential to topple the governments of these countries and throw them into civil unrest. These are emerging democracies that at present are very pro-West. We need to help them for humanitarian and practical reasons. 

Q: How far away are we from a vaccine?

A: It’s impossible to predict. Hopefully just a few months. Vaccine development does not have an infallible road map as we’ve seen with HIV.

Q: In the past you’ve been critical of the State Dept. handling of Ebola in West Africa, can you explain some of your concerns? 

A: The whole international response was much too slow — starting with [the World Health Organization], who declared the outbreak contained in May. I did try to mobilize the [U.S. government] in mid June. As I’ve said, the response was cordial and they listened, but not much happened until August. Not helpful were some in-country advisors who told people in the State Dept. that I was being alarmist, and that if only the people would stop eating bush meat that the outbreak would die out. 

Q: What are your thoughts on the proposed travel ban?

A: Very bad idea. No way to get needed people/expertise/supplies on the ground in West Africa and the people back; private planes or the military too costly and inefficient for civilian transport.

Q: George Will said on Sunday, “There are doctors who are saying that in a sneeze or some cough, some of the airborne particles can be infectious.” Is this true? 

A: If you are standing right in front of a person with Ebola and they cough in your face, this could transmit. Being in the same room breathing the same air is not yet a way to get Ebola. We need to monitor the virus for mutation but it has not yet changed in the parts that it needs to become airborne. It takes a major change to turn a “car” into a “plane.”

Q: The Washington Post had eight Ebola stories on the home webpage, do you think that type of coverage is appropriate? 

A: Actually, yes, as long as the coverage is accurate and helpful. 

Many thanks to Garry for his time in this interview, as well as his contribution to the larger medical community. I wanted to spend this week making sure it was about what a health professional has to say about the issue, not a pundit.

Carville is a political contributor for Fox News and ARISE News. He also serves as a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he lives with his wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin. Carville is the co-author with Stan Greenberg of It’s The Middle Class, Stupid! His column will appear twice a month in The Hill.