I’m very happy to hear that the West African children did not have Ebola as stated in The Citizen Saturday, Oct. 18. However, I think we are very fortunate that they did not have it.
[System spokesperson Melinda] Berry-Dreisbach states that four of the children were monitored at school by having their temperatures taken there. They should have been monitored at home and not permitted to attend school until the 21 days had expired.Just because they had no fever when they arrived in the morning didn’t mean they couldn’t have developed one by lunchtime or later. Think of all the children who would have been exposed in that case — their classmates, children in the cafeteria, children who use the same bathroom, and children who ride the same buses, as well as the faculty and staff.
The Fayette County School System needs to rethink and change their procedures. I understand they followed CDC guidelines, but the CDC doesn’t have a very good track record lately according to news reports.
Let’s use our own common sense guidelines. Keep any children who arrive from West Africa in the future out of our schools for at least 21 days and keep our Fayette County children safe.
Sally Stempinski
Peachtree City, Ga.
