To me it's neither racist nor xenophobic. Please reread the sign. It refers to people who have traveled to West Africa. So in that context it could refer to someone doing missionary work for a religious organization for example.

I don't get either

By sapwotso on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:03pm.

I don't get either the ignorance or the racism. Ebola can spread by contact, and there tends to be some degree of contact with most services rendered at a salon.

Overreaction possibly, but even that's a stretch -- it doesn't take much effort to put up a sign.

Spread by contact?

By lbb on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 8:05pm.

Correction: ebola is spread by contact with the body fluids of an infected person or animal, at the point where they are symptomatic. If people typically vomit or lose their feces in your salon, you have something to worry about. If not, this is a display of ignorance.

Obvious Racism

By BostonDog on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:11pm.

There are currently Ebola cases, including deaths, in Europe and elsewhere in the US. Furthermore not all of Western Africa is in crisis and some large countries like Nigeria pretty much have it contained.

If they wanted to say something like "Please do not enter our store if you have had contact with an someone who is suspected to have Ebola" I would give them a pass on the racism. But the sign is pretty much saying "Blacks from West Africa are not welcome"

Lets put things in perspective here.

By JimGaffigan on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:34pm.

Outside of Africa, there are two countries with Ebola. Spain with 1 case and no deaths and the US with 3 cases and 1 death. Thats it.

To quote somebody else, Taylor Swift has dumped more Americans than Americans with Ebola.

THOUSANDS of Americans die from FLU each year.

I would be more concerned with getting a flu shot than contracting Ebola.

Boston area travelers to West Africa

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:55pm.

These could be students or other visitors or immigrants from that area OR they could be doctors, public health people, and others travelling for professional reasons.

I'd bet, in this area, there is a lot of the latter, and many of those are not originally from West Africa.

OTOH ... A salon shouldn't be exposing its workers to anybody's bodily fluids. HIV and other chronic conditions spread just like Ebola does - so they are either not protecting their workers properly and/or they are doing things they shouldn't be doing and/or they are panicking.

There is another place that I've seen signs about recent travel: The Harvard School of Public Health has them, because people do a lot of research in West Africa, and not just on Ebola but a whole bunch of infectious diseases, birth outcomes, poverty, solid fuel cookstoves, etc. There are a number of people returning because the situation is making other types of research difficult.

Those signs merely asked that returning staff and students contact a specific department for a debriefing and action plan.

for fucks sake

By slowman4130 on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 7:04pm.

why does everything these days automatically get classified as "racist"?

the social justice warriors of the world are the worst kinds of people

If the disease were in Norway

By Saul on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 7:29pm.

If the disease were in Norway and Sweden, what's the likelihood that the owners would have posted a sign about anyone having been near Western Europe?

until that opportunity

By anon on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 7:50pm.

presents itself, you're making an assumption about ones character with zero evidence to support your claim,

Kind of like how the salon

By Saul on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 8:28pm.

Kind of like how the salon owner is making an assumption about anyone being near (what's "near"? 10 miles? 50? 200?) West Africa (most of the vaguely defined "West Africa" is not suffering an ebola crisis) being a mortal danger to the salon's workers and clients.

The Fault in Our Geography

By SwirlyGrrl on Mon, 10/20/2014 - 11:31am.

http://johngreenbooks.com/ebola-meningitis/

How is a communicable disease

By anon on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 12:39pm.

How is a communicable disease from a specific part of the world currently experiencing an outbreak racist?

Did the salon have a similar

By anon on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:37pm.

Did the salon have a similar sign about Asia during the SARS outbreak that killed MANY thousands more people? Scott Brown and the republicans calling to stop flights to West Africa never called for similar measures during the, so far, much worse SARS epidemic. So it seems these salon owners and Republicans treat Africans differently than Asians. That is what it means to be racist.

I feel bad for you being so

By anon on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 3:32pm.

I feel bad for you being so full of hate toward random people and political parties. You should seek some professional help or a healthy hobby. Ever try stamp collecting?

Sorry if you're not following the news, but it is almost

By MC Slim JB on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 6:33pm.

exclusively a Republican campaign tactic to inflame the irrational fears of ignorant voters about Ebola and to advocate border closings that every medical expert says would be counterproductive to quelling the epidemic. That should make you angry. If it doesn't, I'm in favor of *you* taking up stamp collecting if it keeps you away from the polls.

The irony being

By be on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 9:13pm.

That those folks are calling their opponents the "Low Information" ones. (Shrug.)

And the bigot shows their

By anon on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 9:38pm.

And the bigot shows their true colors. Voting is only for people with your opinion?

I guess Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, St. Kitts, The Domican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Saint Lucia are all racist countries for imposing travel restrictions.

I'd actually like to make voting more readily

By MC Slim JB on Sun, 10/19/2014 - 10:35am.

available to all voters, even to the kind of dopes who are easily manipulated by exploitative, fear-mongering right-wing politicians. Sadly, the GOP and its Supreme Court toadies are hell-bent on the un-American practice of suppressing legitimate voters. Be grateful you live in a state that encourages even uninformed, frightened putzes like you to vote.

Wow. Who knew

By Kathode on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 11:41am.

salons were health care providers??

Hey Buddy

By JimGaffigan on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:27pm.

My cousin has a doctorate from Beauty School and shes the smart one in the family.

Just for fun

By JimGaffigan on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 11:47am.

Somebody nearby should run around the block a few times and get all sweaty. Then inhale a little pepper and walk into the store and ask for service, sneezing up a storm.

Then casually drop "I just got back from a Sierra Leone peace corps mission" or something.

Not fun

By Biggie_Robs on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:13pm.

nor funny.

Lighten up Francis

By JimGaffigan on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:16pm.

It was a joke to highlight the absurdity of the post in the window.

Hey, I'm not offended or

By Biggie_Robs on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:29pm.

Hey, I'm not offended or anything, I just hope you aren't saving your joke for some party later tonight. It's not funny.

Damn

By JimGaffigan on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 1:36pm.

There goes my Saturday night.

wow

By anne on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 12:52pm.

Irish need not apply?

Oh my GOD - I practically

By BostonSean on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 3:07pm.

Oh my GOD - I practically want to slam my head through the wall I'm so tired of all this PC oversensitive racism bullshit. You can't say anything without a bunch of whiners turning it into a race issue. Give it a rest already. If the Ebola outbreak was limited to Southie I'd damn sure avoid Southie and its residents. Does that make me racist toward mostly Irish Americans? WTF...

That isn't the stupid thing about this

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 4:01pm.

This isn't about any sensible level of caution - in fact it is quite the opposite.

Salon workers should be practicing universal precautions if they are doing anything that would cause contact with other people's bodily fluids.

They are basically admitting to the world that they are violating workplace safety guidelines. Not sure I'd even want to go there - one of their stylists might have Hepatitis or HIV and give it to me!

The utter ignorance and worthlessness of such a "protective measure" is far larger and more assailable on than any supposed violation of "political correctness".

Your example is dumb and weirdly irrelevant

By MC Slim JB on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 4:35pm.

How exactly would you spot a Southie resident after an Ebola outbreak in Southie? By the shamrock tattoo and scally cap we're all required to wear?

Now, if the sign said, "Any white guys who may or may not have erectile dysfunction, please notify us before you request services here, because we hear that shit is catching", then you'd have something to be angry about.

Hey Slim

By Cappy on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 8:09pm.

Don't ya wish everyone had our sense of humor?

Not racist at all by the way.

If it'll put you in touch

By lbb on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 8:09pm.

If it'll put you in touch with how the rest of us feel at your kneejerk shrieking and waving the stupid "You're just being PEEEEE CEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!" bully stick anytime someone says the word "racist", then by all means, slam away.

Fly over?

By Saul on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 8:04pm.

A friend raises an intriguing question: planes cruise at around six miles, so if you've flown over "West Africa" (as though it were a state like West Virginia), you've traveled pretty darned near to the region.

Hmm.

By be on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 9:07pm.

I am only going to assume that the spa that put this sign up is one of those sketchy ones, if they are worried about the spread of la maladie du jour among their employees / patrons. (Shrug.)

This may be in consideration of

By apollyoncruiser on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 9:09pm.

the Spanish nurse infected with ebola. Her hairdresser was also isolated for a time after her diagnosis as a precaution. Looking at the two cases in Texas any precaution is understandable in my view as those nurses were supposedly wearing PPE according to CDC guidelines up to that point and still contracted ebola. If you're working a job that requires touching individuals I think it makes sense to try to minimize your risk wherever possible because we've had about 7 ebola related cases by my count right here in the good ole U.S. of A.

Actually, no

By SwirlyGrrl on Sat, 10/18/2014 - 9:55pm.

Looking at the two cases in Texas any precaution is understandable in my view as those nurses were supposedly wearing PPE according to CDC guidelines up to that point and still contracted ebola

The patient was not isolated in the ER for hours, the nurses did not have access to proper protective equipment so they improvised, and the hospital lacked a protocol for isolation of this level.

In Dallas, nurses assigned to care for Duncan, who died last week, weren't given proper training or proper personal protective equipment, said Deborah Burger, co-president of the nursing group, who said she has spoken with nurses at Texas Presbyterian. Those nurses also were assigned to care for other patients, potentially exposing them to Ebola, she said. Duncan was left in an area with other patients for hours after he was diagnosed rather than immediately isolated, she said.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/15/nurses-protest-ebol...

Actually, Yes.

By apollyoncruiser on Sun, 10/19/2014 - 12:55am.

We now know that they weren't properly prepared to handle ebola because of improper PPE and quarantine procedures but at first they weren't saying that. The Texas nurses were wearing some form of PPE and aware that they were facing a deadly virus and unfortunately still contracted ebola. Hairdresser's wear nowhere near what the nurses would've had on, which brings me back to the original post and some of the comments. Some seem to think the salon owner's request for patrons to disclose if they'd been to West Africa was improper but considering the ebola cases in the US, its better to be proactive about protecting yourself because everyday it seems the CDC and US government are making adjustments to their guidelines on proper procedures.

Nurses = Hairdressers?

By be on Sun, 10/19/2014 - 1:33am.

I'm not certain what you are getting at here.

There were protocols that were not followed at the TX hospital. This is why people got sick.

How does this bear on how hair is cut, unless it's a case of a coiffeur/euse withing they were a lumberjack?

A few minor differences

By lbb on Sun, 10/19/2014 - 10:17am.

Hairdressers, nail techs, whatever, all deal NOW constantly with people who may have blood-borne pathogens and not even know it. Ever hear of HIV or the alphabet of hepatitis? Or how about skin-borne pathogens like staph? They are supposed to use procedures and equipment to protect themselves and their customers from exposure to these pathogens; if they're not doing that, then something's wrong with them, not with their customers. They are not equipped to protect themselves from what the nurses in Texas were facing. The nurses in Texas were handling an ebola patient who was, pardon the crudeness, spewing bodily fluids from every orifice. They were furthermore doing so with IMPROVISED PPE. Is that in any way comparable to what hairdressers deal with? Is it? Are hairdressers up to their elbows in feces and vomit?

Universal Precautions

By SwirlyGrrl on Sun, 10/19/2014 - 2:39pm.

There is a reason for that word, UNIVERSAL.

It means that you ASSUME that ANYBODY that you encounter in a health care setting may have HIV, Hepatitis, etc.

Hairdressers aren't exposed like health care workers. If salon employees are in the potentially exposed categories that require UNIVERSAL precautions, they need to be using them - NOT because of Ebola, but because of the far more prevalent nasties that are out and about in the general population. However, IF they are observing universal precautions, they will be protected from Ebola, too.

If they are not taking precautions, and doing procedures which expose THEM, they could also give YOU a bloodborne disease.

PS: please learn to use apostrophes.

Ebolapocalypse fears spread through the Athens of America

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