Since Ebola’s emergence as an international crisis, Republicans have blamed President Barack Obama every step of the way. And now that another case has developed inside our borders, criticism and panic has only heightened.

“Fox and Friends Weekend” host Tucker Carlson called it “crazy” that Obama has not banned flights from Ebola-stricken countries, while Sen. John McCain (R- Arizona) went as far as to say that Obama promised “there would never be a case of Ebola in the United States” on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

But fact checkers have searched statements from the president and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and found no such promise. Obama is not responsible for Ebola’s spread to and inside of the United States. His decision not to impose flight bans is a well-informed one and continued demands for bans only increase panic.

Republican lawmakers all the way up to House Speaker John Boehner have joined in on a common mantra: ban flights from West Africa. But their proposal is completely unfounded. Even with a flight ban in place, travelers could easily transfer to flights in restriction-free countries. Instead of fighting Ebola, all this scrambling around the world would lead to cases more widely spread.

An Oct. 17 New York Times article made it clear that experts oppose flight bans. Many health experts reaffirmed that this would cut off the hardest-hit nations from outside support, leaving them to fight Ebola with inadequate resources.

Those demanding flight bans also seem unaware that American-based airlines stopped flying to highly affected countries two months ago to protect their own employees. There are no direct flights coming to America from the most deeply affected areas.

Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Florida) was unaware of this fact in a Friday MSNBC appearance about his flight-banning bill and insisted that “there are some flights.” Before Congress reconvenes in November and is flooded with banter over flight bans, Republicans need to do some research.

Obama acknowledged the impossibility of “seal(ing) off an entire region of the world” on Saturday during his weekly address, and made his decisions accordingly.

Republicans also peg Obama directly responsible for Ebola cases that have arrived and developed in America. But these infections resulted from lapses in everyday medical operations, not failures by top federal officials. It would be impossible for the president to directly oversee all medical procedures. These duties fall to the CDC and specific hospital staffs who have the expertise to handle such situations.

Ebola is nowhere close to being an epidemic in America. And because of our health advances, it will never reach that point here.

But that has not stopped Obama from taking the matter seriously. He has spoken several times regarding Ebola efforts both in America and overseas and even dropped campaign plans to coordinate Ebola plans instead. On Friday he appointed Ron Klain to oversee and manage Ebola response. And on Tuesday, the Obama administration announced that passengers from West Africa would only be able to fly to the U.S. through the airports with screening procedures.

If Obama is not speaking out more, it is because he is trying not to add to panic. Forty percent of Americans believe they are at risk for Ebola, according to a poll by the Harvard School of Public Health. Hysteria is America’s actual epidemic.

Republicans’ nonstop criticism of how Obama is handling Ebola makes citizens believe the situation is out of control, which is just not true. Obama is not only handling the crisis quite well, he is handling the hysteria.

In the president’s own words, “This is a serious disease, but we can’t give in to hysteria or fear.”

Kathryn Krawczyk is a freshman magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at kjkrawczyk@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @KathrynKrawczyk.

Published on October 23, 2014 at 12:01 am