[Steve Dallas]

This might be a hard topic to discuss without touching on political aspects...I'm going to try to do with without getting political, and I hope anyone else that joins this discussion can try to do the same.

As much as we've been reassured that Ebola won't be a huge problem in the U.S., I have little faith in the reassurances we are getting. Like it or not, this terrible virus IS going to have an impact on our lives over the coming year. It's a simple matter of probability and mathematics. As the Dallas hospital has shown, this virus spreads like wildfire...even with the reassurances that proper precautions had been taken. Our hospitals are not prepared for this. They just aren't. Any virus that expands exponentially at the rate Ebola does NEEDS to be taken seriously.

I understand the need to calm the populace when something like this breaks out. That's what we are currently getting from the CDC and others who are talking about this.

I'm a rational person. Still, I am in the process of starting to stock up on water, MRE's and canned goods. That isn't a bad idea anyways in case of other emergencies.

The question is, how far do we go to protect ourselves? Do we restrict or ban travel from other countries (if we contain the outbreak in Dallas)? Do we restrict travel from Dallas anywhere else over the next 21-42 days?

If this gets bigger...that's something we may be facing. Problem is, we may also face people (especially in Texas) who don't want their freedom infringed upon. That may be the biggest problem we face in preventing the spread of Ebola.