# Ebola: Maine Teacher Is Put On Leave Because She Visited Dallas **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746 "2014-10-19T00:03:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/61 "2014-10-20T04:29:08Z")
I’ve been to Dallas just once, in 1960, for 20 minutes. Am I going to die? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/62 "2014-10-20T05:07:21Z")
I ate a salad once. That’s dalas backward! Am I already dead? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/63 "2014-10-20T13:26:35Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Yes, but while the school district shouldn’t have put her on leave, the fact is that the pressure to do so came from parents in the area. I don’t know how many parents were pushing for this, but i could easily imagine the school district leaders getting a whole bunch of phone calls and emails, and throwing up their hands and saying, “You know what? The only way to shut these morons up is to put this teacher on leave for a few weeks.” That seems to be what happened - in which case they should not be regarded as _leaders_. Leaders don’t just blow with the wind. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/64 "2014-10-20T14:52:33Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I’ve been to Dallas just once, in 1960, for 20 minutes. Am I going to die? Yes, & you also owe taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/65 "2014-10-20T15:12:54Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Yes, & you also owe taxes. Is that for certain? I read comments on one of the sites reporting this article and there were some parents on there saying they didn’t agree at all with the decision by the school board, but that several parents were in the meeting with dubious articles and urban legends saying why there was a threat. These more rational parents said it became a very heated argument but those who had the misinformation just dug in and refused to budge. Eventually the school board just gave in. I don’t know if those comments genuinely came from people who were there but the level of frustration they contained with the parents who refused to listen to facts certainly gave them credibility in my own opinion. While I think the school board made a terrible decision by giving in to ignorance, I can certainly understand their logic. A 21 day absence is easy, but imagine what would happen if the teacher got a bad piece of meat at the school and began to vomit with a bout of diarrhea. Frankly, _any_ sort of illness would probably suffice. The ignorant parents would demand the school shut down, the teacher isolated and tested for Ebola, and while that happens a very expensive cleaning crew brought in to disinfect the school. The panic would be ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/66 "2014-10-20T15:49:41Z")
These are the people who insisted that strawberry-scented lotions could kill HIV in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/67 "2014-10-20T17:58:35Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > That giant THUMP you hear is copies of _Debbie Does Dallas_ hitting trash cans all over the country. Boy, talk about yer bodily fluids. I saw someone vomit on Houston Street in NYC once. Same-same, right? I think I need a 21 day with pay break from freelancing… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/68 "2014-10-20T19:46:39Z")
I once toured the battleship Texas – Og knows what bugs I picked up. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/69 "2014-10-20T19:59:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I once toured the battleship Texas – Og knows what bugs I picked up. Lord knows, that thing’s full of seamen. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/70 "2014-10-20T20:04:20Z")
I went to high school near Dallas 25 years ago. Can I at least get the afternoon off? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/71 "2014-10-20T20:29:30Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I went to high school near Dallas 25 years ago. That reminds me… I heard Groucho Marx singing _I Scream, You Scream_ and he riffs on the _Yale Fight Song_, whose lyrics include ‘Boola, boola’, which sounds an _awful lot_ like ‘Ebola, Ebola!’ Should I be worried? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/72 "2014-10-20T20:37:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > That reminds me… I heard Groucho Marx singing _I Scream, You Scream_ and he riffs on the _Yale Fight Song_, whose lyrics include ‘Boola, boola’, which sounds an _awful lot_ like ‘Ebola, Ebola!’ > > Should I be worried? Did he spit on you? +++ I need time off around Christmas, so I guess if I go to Dallas around December 12th, I can take off until the new year. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/73 "2014-10-20T20:55:07Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I went to high school near Dallas 25 years ago. Can I at least get the afternoon off? We’re terribly sorry. The new Ebola Encompassing Emergency Plan ( EEEP ! ) guidelines are pretty rigid. 20 years is the cut-off. You are permitted to come in an hour late, providing you supply your immediate work team with lattés and Tim Horton Timbits. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/74 "2014-10-20T21:07:26Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > Is that for certain? > I read comments on one of the sites reporting this article and there were some parents on there saying they didn’t agree at all with the decision by the school board, but that several parents were in the meeting with dubious articles and urban legends saying why there was a threat. These more rational parents said it became a very heated argument but those who had the misinformation just dug in and refused to budge. Eventually the school board just gave in. I don’t know if those comments genuinely came from people who were there but the level of frustration they contained with the parents who refused to listen to facts certainly gave them credibility in my own opinion. > > While I think the school board made a terrible decision by giving in to ignorance, I can certainly understand their logic. A 21 day absence is easy, but imagine what would happen if the teacher got a bad piece of meat at the school and began to vomit with a bout of diarrhea. Frankly, _any_ sort of illness would probably suffice. The ignorant parents would demand the school shut down, the teacher isolated and tested for Ebola, and while that happens a very expensive cleaning crew brought in to disinfect the school. The panic would be ridiculous. And wouldn’t that have provided a perfect opportunity for the school and the district to educate people…which is the entire point of their existence? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/75 "2014-10-20T21:08:21Z")
I live _IN_ Maine! Perhaps I should quarantine myself so I don’t get “teh Ebola” 😉 … I hear Dallas is nice this time of year… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/76 "2014-10-20T22:29:16Z")
Stolen from Facebook: Just remember, more Americans have been married to Kim Kardassian than have died from Ebola ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/77 "2014-10-20T22:35:35Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Stolen from Facebook: > Just remember, more Americans have been married to Kim Kardassian than have died from Ebola And: More Americans have been Batman than have died from Ebola. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/78 "2014-10-21T00:08:06Z")
Hell, more Americans have slept with Monica Lewinsky than have died from Ebola. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/79 "2014-10-21T00:22:45Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Good thing they cancelled the Dallas TV series… I was a fan of that show. I should probably start making funeral arrangements. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746/80 "2014-10-21T01:43:35Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Come on, she was on a plane. People with Ebola were known to be on a plane also. I say this quarantine is entirely justified, and everybody who has been on a plane since September 20 should immediately get a three-week [del]vacation[/del] quarantine. I didn’t fly in, like, forever ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebola-maine-teacher-is-put-on-leave-because-she-visited-dallas/701746.md?page=5)