The United States needs to allow non-U.S. citizen health care workers into the U.S. for a better chance at survival.

Ebola begins with flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, chills and fatigue. The virus then becomes more severe as it causes vomiting, diarrhea, rash, bruising, internal bleeding and external bleeding moving from the eyes to other orifices.

This dreadful disease has killed over four thousand people as of Oct. 29, and there have been nine Americans treated in the U.S. according to the New York Times. We need all the help we can get to keep the death toll at a minimum.

Recently a document was uncovered that referenced the State Department’s tentative plan to allow foreign Ebola-infected health care workers from West Africa into the U.S. for access to medical facilities. The reasoning was that certain countries are “implicitly or explicitly” waiting for the U.S. to implement such a plan before they send their own medical personnel to fight the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

However, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said senior leaders did not clear the memo. “There are no plans to ‘medevac’ non-Americans who become ill with Ebola to the United States,” she said. “[T]he memo isn’t current because our European partners have addressed this matter by providing their own guarantees.”

If the U.S. took a stand and allowed Ebola-infected in, then even more countries will send people to West Africa, and other countries with adequate medical facilities will follow suit in helping sick health care workers despite the country they are from. The contagious period does not begin until symptoms appear. With competent medical workers and extra security measures we can allow access to those who are risking their health and their lives.

“The care of these patients should be at … specialized regional centers,” said William Jarvis, former chief of infection control practices at the CDC.

“You need good diagnostic tools to identify these problems in the first place,” said Dr. Joshua Mugele, an American ER doctor who has worked on Ebola patients in Liberia.

Those who have access to proper treatment centers will have a better chance at survival. Only one out of the nine patients treated in America has died as opposed to the overall death rate of 50% according to the World Health Organization.

Americans’ lives are no more important than people of other countries. I dare anyone to look someone in the face who is suffering from Ebola and tell him or her that they are more likely to die because they are not American.

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