< Campaign Rallies Resume In Liberia, Raising Uncertainty Over Ebola Risk

ERIC WESTERVELT, HOST:

In Liberia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said she's hoping for no new Ebola cases by Christmas. The number of new cases in Liberia is going down, but many health officials say the president's goal is just too optimistic. Schools are said to be closed until March, but a national Senate election, which was postponed once, is now set for mid-December. That means campaigning, which means crowds. NPR's Kelly McEvers sent this report from a rally in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: Back in August and September, when a hundred people were getting Ebola a day, Monrovia was a ghost town. Ebola treatment units were full. Regular hospitals were closed. People were dying in the streets, and a lot of people stayed home. Now...

(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD)

MCEVERS: Hundreds people are heading out to big campaign rallies. For the first time in a long time, there's a reason to party in Monrovia.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC AT A RALLY)

MCEVERS: The first people we meet are hanging back. They say they're trying to follow the rules in the time of Ebola - keep your distance, no touching. I ask Ophelia Gaga if her family talks about Ebola. She says it's all they talk about, especially how and when to wash your hands in chlorinated water. It kills Ebola.

OPHELIA GAGA: Before in the bathroom, you wash your hands. Before eating you wash your hands. Everything concerning me, I wash my hands day and night.

MCEVERS: Day and night, before you go to the bathroom, before you eat. Ophelia says she's sick of washing hands. She's just happy to relax.

So you say better to not worry...

GAGA: Yes.

MCEVERS: ...And relax and dance.

GAGA: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

MCEVERS: Munah Krah is dancing, too. So why did you come today?

MUNAH KRAH: To jubilate.

MCEVERS: Munah is a member of the opposition party, which is sponsoring the event.

Do you think about it? Are you scared about Ebola?

KRAH: I'm not afraid of Ebola.

MCEVERS: Why not?

KRAH: Because I know I'm protected by God. So if I wash my hand, I know that I'm protected by God.

MCEVERS: She knows she is protected by God. How do you know?

KRAH: I know I'm a child of God. I'm a priest and I believe in it. I believe that if when making the people (unintelligible) protected from Ebola.

MCEVERS: Really? So even if you didn't wash your hands, God would protect you?

KRAH: God would protect me. Well, actually, (unintelligible) I'm still washing my hands.

MCEVERS: Right. So you're doing both. You have both.

KRAH: Yeah.

MCEVERS: You have hand washing and God. That's good.

So that's what the ladies on the periphery have to say. But if you look deeper into the crowd, you see people flirting, hugging, touching. And we start to hear a lot of different theories about Ebola. Some people say Ebola doesn't exist at all. Marcy Taylor comes out to tell me and our interpreter her theory.

MARCY TAYLOR: (Speaking foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED TRANSLATOR: She believes that Ebola is over and gone - that if there was still Ebola, they wouldn't have an election.

MCEVERS: They wouldn't have an election, right?

Turns out a lot of people think this. The government closed schools and markets and said no public gatherings. But now they're allowing public gatherings for elections, so they say that must mean Ebola is gone.

We tried several times to reach a government spokesman to ask him about this, but he did not return our calls. One thing we do know is that postponing the election any further would go against the constitution. Journalists here say no party would want to be criticized for doing that.

Walter Cole just graduated high school. He says he follows the news that Ebola treatment units, or ETUs, are still being built around Liberia.

WALTER COLE: My opinion is that I still believe that Ebola is still in Liberia. Because if there was no Ebola in Liberia, they would not be building ETUs all around town. So those who are saying that Ebola is not here is because they are not monitoring news. They might as well say Ebola is not here.

MCEVERS: Walter says he had hope to go to trade school this fall. But now he's just sitting at home waiting for schools to open again. Before that happens, the election parties are getting bigger every day.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC AT A RALLY)

MCEVERS: Kelly McEvers, NPR News, Monrovia.

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