US parents want Facebook users in Africa to declare Ebola status for fear of catching virus online

In a "perfectly reasonable attempt" to protect
their children from the Ebola virus, a group of
concerned parents in the US have asked
Facebook to introduce a new feature that will
compel users in Africa to declare their Ebola
status.
"The news is that this Ebola is sweeping
through Africa like wild fire, so this is a
perfectly reasonable attempt to prevent our
kids from catching this disease by watching
online videos and images originating from
Africa or even accepting friendship requests
from people in Africa," George Palin, a worried
parent from Louiseville, Kentucky, told
YesiYesi Ghana.
Concerned parents from Louisville, Kentucky, a
city about 5,199 miles from the disease
epicentre in Liberia and 800 miles from Dallas
where the only 3 cases of Ebola in United
States were recorded, are asking the social
networking giant to introduce an exclusive
feature for African users which will require
them to indicate their Ebola status. The
proposed feature will appear under a users'
personal details section and it will be
accessible to all other Facebook users. "Any
African who refuses to indicate their Ebola
status should have their Facebook account
disabled," demanded another concerned
American parent.
The American parents also debunked remarks
that their request was an overreaction
considering the virus is transmitted through
direct contact with bodily fluids of a person
showing symptoms of the disease. "Things
spread very quickly online, we just don't want
our kids catching this Ebola thing on
Facebook. I was surprised to hear they have
Facebook in Africa, but hey, if they have it,
then we have a responsibility to ensure our
kids are fully protected," said a mother of two.
"This is hardly an overreaction when Syracuse
University, a place of advanced learning,
cancelled the invitation of photojournalist
Michel du Cille, who had been covering Ebola
in Liberia, despite the fact that he had not
shown any symptoms after the recommended
21-day monitoring period. You cannot call our
request an overreaction when a school in New
Jersey delayed the start date of two new
students from Rwanda, a country more than
2,500 miles from the Ebola outbreak in Liberia,
Guinea and Sierra Leone."
"Why not just place a quarantine on everyone
in Africa, it's only a small country anyway,"
suggested one American parent.

Article taken from YesiYesi news.