Duchess Meghan’s Geneva trip apparently caused an ‘Ebola nightmare’

Tom Sykes’ latest Royalist Substack piece is breathtakingly unhinged. It might be the most deranged thing I’ll read all week. It’s very old-school as well, reminiscent of the infamous Daily Mail headline and story about the Duchess of Sussex eating avocado toast. That Mail headline? “How Meghan’s favourite avocado snack – beloved of all millennials – is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder.” So, remember how Meghan visited Geneva two weekends ago, ahead of the opening of the World Health Assembly? She inaugurated the Lost Screen Memorial in Geneva, gave a speech, and attended some meetings and a dinner. The World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appeared with Meghan at the inauguration. In February, Dr. Tedros also arranged for the Sussexes’ WHO-attached trip to Jordan, so it’s clear that he knows the Sussexes well and he’s grateful for their donations. Well, Sykes has been looking for an anti-Meghan angle on all of this. He thinks he’s found it with this spectacular reach: “Why Was the World Health Organization Talking Social Media With Meghan Markle While an Ebola Nightmare Was Brewing in Africa?” Seriously. Meghan’s murder-avocados are passe, please introduce yourself to Meghan’s Ebola Nightmare.

On May 5, the World Health Organization was alerted to a deadly mystery illness spreading through the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Just ten days later, officials confirmed it was a form of Ebola, triggering an official outbreak declaration as fears mounted over the virus. The WHO has since declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola a public health emergency of international concern and raised the risk level in the DRC to “very high.”

But while alarm bells were ringing in sub-Saharan Africa, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appeared alongside Meghan Markle at a showy event focused on creating “safer digital spaces.” Needless to say, lives lost as a result of online abuse and digital harm deserve serious attention. Still, it raises the question of why the world’s top health official was attending a celebrity-backed campaign while a deadly Ebola outbreak was escalating on the ground?

The question becomes even more pressing given that, on Monday, the head of the WHO said the epidemic is “outpacing us” and that delays in detecting cases mean responders are now “playing catch-up.” The seriousness cannot be understated: by Tuesday, authorities had recorded 906 suspected cases and 223 suspected deaths in the DRC, along with 10 confirmed deaths. In Uganda, there have been 7 confirmed cases and 1 confirmed death, according to the CDC.

Though the WHO chief reportedly traveled to the epicenter of the outbreak on Tuesday, where was he just two days after the outbreak was declared? At a Geneva event, listening to Meghan’s speech, and presenting the duchess with a WHO field vest “as a gesture of my regard for her commitment to promoting and protecting people’s health.”

…In its most severe cases, Ebola can rapidly progress to multi-organ failure, internal bleeding, shock, and death. The rare strain of Ebola circulating at the moment has no proven vaccine. So why was Dr. Tedros standing next to Meghan instead of responding to the outbreak?

One explanation may be that he has little direct political pressure on his position, given that he is appointed by member states rather than directly accountable to the public, whose opinions on the Duchess of Sussex are themselves divided. Some might also argue that appearing alongside a celebrity, however divisive, offers valuable media visibility for both sides.

[From The Royalist Substack]

I’m absolutely shattered that Dr. Tedros would attend an event highlighting the deadly dangers of social media – dangers which are so extreme, lawsuits have been brought against social-media companies and those plaintiffs have won – less than 48 hours before the World Health Assembly began in Geneva! My point is that regardless of Meghan’s involvement and presence, Dr. Tedros would have been there in Geneva, not on the ground in the Congo. He is the WHO Director-General, he was always going to attend the World Health Assembly. And as WHO Director-General, he knows how to walk and chew gum at the same time. He and his WHO staff can work on multiple issues at the same time, because that’s literally what WHO does every single day. They’re looking at ALL health crises, from Ebola to hantavirus to social-media addiction. Still, blaming Meghan for an Ebola crisis is certainly a new low.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Meghan’s Instagram and Dr. Tedros’ Twitter.