If Obama thinks Ebola is a "national security priority," why no travel ban?

There is little doubt that other infected cases will reach our shores as the president dithers.

The screening of travelers before boarding — on the assumption that they cannot transmit the disease until they are symptomatic– is so inadequate as to be ludicrous. The director of the Centers for Disease Control confirms that an infected traveler could pass the screening during incubation, but become symptomatic on the plane. Or when he arrives. By then it is too late. And since the initial symptoms mimic a variety of illnesses, including the common cold, the traveler could go for days undetected and undiagnosed. All the while, the disease is transmitted to many others with whom he comes in contact here in the U.S.

Which brings up another canard upon which the White House relies: transmission. We are assured that Ebola is spread by direct contact with blood, mucus, saliva and other bodily fluids from an infected person. As if that’s supposed to make us feel safer. We’re told it cannot be transmitted through the air. Seriously? Think about that. Let’s say an infected passenger gets past screening and begins coughing, which is the body’s natural mechanism to evacuate the lungs. Any scientist will tell you that when someone coughs, microscopic droplets of saliva are projected from the mouth and into the air a distance of 7 to 12 feet. It is often invisible to the naked eye, but it can be inhaled by others and enter their respiratory tract or otherwise be ingested. It can also land on surfaces. This is how the influenza virus is often transmitted and spreads. Why not the Ebola virus?