[Sooth2222]

“Nobody on that plane is going to get ebola.”

"I agree with you.

Allow me to disagree. It is unlikely that anyone on that flight is going to contract Ebola.

It is not impossible.

(I can't calculate the probabilities -- but neither can the CDC.)

[jjsheridan5]

Allow me to disagree. It is unlikely that anyone on that flight is going to contract Ebola.

It is not impossible.

And, to add to your obviously correct observation, while the chances are quite small (a reasonable conclusion from the fact that while the spread in W. Africa has been steady, it is spreading at a rate roughly 1/5 or 1/10 that of, say, influenza), at a certain point it becomes a question of mathematics. Given a large enough number of cases (for example, 100 or 1000 planes with an Ebola victim on each), that "impossibility" becomes a near certainty, mathematically.

This cavalier disregard for uncertainty in terms of the science, and the disregard for the lack of distinction between impossible and highly unlikely, neither of which usually matters, has the potential to get a whole lot of people killed in this instance.