Arthur Caplan: I’m Worried that People Will Start To Become Afraid of Africans

‘Just because you know somebody who’s from West Africa doesn’t mean they’re posing an extraordinary threat’

"I’m worried about is people are going to start saying, 'I'm not sitting next to you on a plane. I think you might be from Liberia, so I’m afraid of you. I’m on the other side of the street.' Look, we still are not in a panic situation. I know we’re hearing, there is this case, if someone is moving near -- these are tiny numbers of cases that we can handle. The community should not be nervous about dealing with people who come from Africa who have been in the United States a long time. We really have to tamp down that fear. That’s not the right way to respond to this epidemic...

You may want to say to them, 'Look, don’t invite your relatives to come over. We're talking about travel restrictions. Well, one thing to do is come to see your family. Another thing to do is to say, 'Hey, just because you know somebody is from West Africa, it doesn’t mean they’re posing an extraordinary threat. Remember how bad it was in HIV? We don’t want to go through that again."
 

 

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