--- title: Watch a Science Cop Take On the Ebola Fear Mongers description: The first appearance of an Ebola case in the United States does not mean we're headed for an epidemic canonical: https://time.com/3491579/science-cop-ebola-fear-mongers/ author: Michael Lester article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-13T11:00:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:37:24.139Z article:section: Health og:title: Watch a Science Cop Take On the Ebola Fear Mongers og:description: The first appearance of an Ebola case in the United States does not mean we're headed for an epidemic og:url: https://time.com/3491579/science-cop-ebola-fear-mongers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt856b6025a2d9fafb/69876025a988cab1fb6a9be0/ep4-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 640 og:image:height: 360 og:image:alt: Science Cop - fear mongers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch a Science Cop Take On the Ebola Fear Mongers twitter:description: The first appearance of an Ebola case in the United States does not mean we're headed for an epidemic twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt856b6025a2d9fafb/69876025a988cab1fb6a9be0/ep4-tout.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch a Science Cop Take on the Ebola Fear Mongers > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Oct 13, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak. Getty (2 images) by [Michael Lester](https://time.com/author/michael-lester/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Oct 13, 2014 11:00 AM UTC Yes, Ebola has close to a 50% death rate; and yes that death is a very ugly, very bloody one. But the first appearance of a case in the United States does not mean we’re headed for an epidemic anything like the one that is causing so much suffering in West Africa. The disease is not easy to catch and incubates for a relatively short time—which means that no one spends months or years as a symptom-free carrier. And proper isolation facilities in modern hospitals mean that if a person does fall ill here, the virus can be contained. But none of that is what you’ll hear from the fear mongers, who warn that a plague is among us and we must seal our borders to save ourselves from doom. 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