If you're running short of ammunition in a "six kinds of stupid" debate, check this one out at myAJC.com, our subscriber website:
Explaining their secrecy, state officials pointed to the troubles Emory University Hospital faced after it began treating Ebola patients in August. Hospital officials received hate mail, vendors refused to handle blood samples and at least one restaurant refused to deliver pizza.
Ryan Deal, spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, said the six hospitals have asked to remain anonymous until they are fully prepared to treat an Ebola patient. In addition, he said that some hospitals may not ultimately earn the state's approval as a designated Ebola center.
There is, of course, a highly principled argument to be made that public health is built on a bedrock of public trust and, thus, public information. If you’re afraid of mindless panic, then education is your friend, not your enemy.
Then there is the low-road argument based on humanity’s track record: If health care officials won’t name six of seven hospitals that are designated for Ebola duty, then people will assume that their local hospital is one of those nameless six. Because their hospital, without a doubt, is one of the best. You have not eliminated your problem. You have trebled it.
Lastly, hospitals are personnel intensive centers, filled with thousands of physicians, nurses, aides, and volunteers who are generally well-educated, sensitive to public welfare, and know how email and cell phones work. Some might even know about this Twitter thing, or Facebook.
Short of an Official Secrets Act and a firing squad or two, the Georgia public health system hasn’t shut down a rumor mill. They’ve just created one.
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