Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

An Informed Plan for Ebola

Early yesterday, an email from University President John J. DeGioia outlined Georgetown’s contingency plans regarding the growing Ebola crisis in Western Africa.

The university has articulated that all policies pertaining to Ebola will be based solely on the advice of the public health resources available to Georgetown administrators, namely MedStar Hospital and the D.C. Department of Health.

In addition to alleviating any anxieties that Georgetown students have, these policies effectively resist the trend of sensationalizing the crisis that has taken place in other locales around the country.

Evoking images of panic and planning for a worst-case scenario would not only be counterproductive to making Georgetown students feel secure on campus, but it would set a poor example for other universities responding to the minimal threat that the disease poses to American campuses.

In fact, while Ebola rages in western Africa, it would be a distracting ploy to develop in-depth contingencies to address the very remote possibility of an Ebola outbreak in Washington, D.C. The responsible act is to keep our attention focused on Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, where it should be. In this respect, the university acted well.

There is little that Georgetown can do as an institution to directly contribute to solutions to the Ebola crisis. Adopting a responsible and fact-based approach in order to avoid the trend toward sensationalism is one thing we can do, and are doing, right.

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