Outside a run-down elementary school in West Point, Liberia, health workers stand silent and stiff under a balcony as the night darkens. Their spare supply of white hazmat suits, latex gloves and chlorine has been stolen, along with food for 21 patients who were being quarantined inside.
Just an hour earlier, locals had burst through the gates and looted the facility. Patients suspected of having Ebola were “liberated” — the mob took their bedding and mattresses out with them. Now the staff are waiting for the police to escort them to safety. They eventually depart, unharmed, but they are forced to leave a patient’s dead body behind.
