OK, so we’re knee-deep in the Ebola crisis here in the US. No, not the disease itself, which has so far been quickly contained in New York and Dallas, albeit with an uncomfortable amount of official fumbling.
No, I mean the epidemic of fear. Schools are turning away teachers and students just for having visited or being from Africa – even if the country involved is thousands of miles from the outbreak.
Health care workers who have tested negative for the virus and have no symptoms are being quarantined, chilling the potential medical response to the disease in Africa.
And one town in Maine freaked out because someone came there from… Dallas.
So my questions today – what future epidemics might threaten the US or the world? How would the world respond? And what LGBT stories can we tell against this backdrop?