It's what we've taken to calling "the fire next time" -- after the Rev. Dr. King Jr.'s immortal turn of phrase (and. . . it is as one would expect, biblical1, at that). Viral epidemics just work that way, as a matter of human biology.
Even so, the best course is to ring vaccinate every contact of a contact, as rapidly as they can each be identified -- to arrest the new spread.
From NPR's reporting, then -- the latest. But this is likely to get worse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, before it gets better:
. . .A second person who had contracted the Ebola virus died this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking another outbreak just three months after the nation outlasted the virus's second-worst outbreak in history.
The latest victim was from the North Kivu province, the World Health Organization and the DRC's health ministry said in a statement Thursday.
This death comes one week after a 42-year-old woman died from Ebola. The wife of an Ebola survivor, she entered an intensive care unit Feb. 4 and died the same day. She was buried on Feb. 5, but not under proper burial practices to prevent the spread of Ebola; during prior outbreaks, the handling of bodies was kept to a minimum and done by trained teams. . . .
Do keep a good thought for North Kivu, in the DRC. . . and we should expect that to the extent US folks refuse the COVID-19 vaccine when their turn comes up, we will see pockets of outbreaks like this in the communities where they and their families reside. Unfortunate in the extreme, for people who cannot do science -- but the best offense here is a strong defense. Get the vaccine. That protects you from anyone who doesn't get the vaccine, and turns up positive. Onward.
नमस्ते
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1. The Old Testament has it set down, in the book of the Prophet Malachi 4:1-3 (in the Hebrew version of that book, 3:15-17); and the New, at First Corinthians 3:12-15. Now you know.
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