In a letter to the editor, Jersey City resident Adrian Evers explains why he feels federal dollars must be used to contain Ebola before it reaches New Jersey.
Dear Editor,
I was eight years old when I first remember reading the news regarding the 2014 Ebola Outbreak. Now, I begin to experience familiar concerns once again.
A rare strain of Ebola is spreading rapidly through war-torn provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Bundibugyo Strain (BVD) has no known treatment or vaccine. Ebola circulated for weeks without detection, and is spreading south towards the volatile Kivu region and west into Uganda.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. An American doctor is infected.
Instead of responding, the White House has kept 19 billion dollars in public health and international assistance funds frozen.
During the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, USAID deployed a Disaster Response Team across Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea to coordinate containment.
Today, the Administration refuses to address the growing public health crisis, despite having funds Congress appropriated for this very issue.
Indeed, its policy quarantining Americans abroad is creating violence in Kenya.
The Alliance for American Leadership, a network of 1,200 youth, is calling on New Jersey representatives, as well as Senators Cory Booker, and Andy Kim, to work with the White House to release these public health funds and contain Ebola before it reaches New Jerseyans.
If left unsupported, it could affect the very communities here in Hudson County.
International assistance is less than one penny of every federal dollar. That penny funds programs keeping Americans and people around the world safe.
Adrian Evers
Jersey City resident