Balancing the risks of catching Ebola while covering the outbreak

Summary

---

Consider This from NPR

Episode: Balancing the Risks of Catching Ebola While Covering the Outbreak

Air Date: June 27, 2026
Host: Don Gonyea
Guest: Emmett Livingstone – NPR Reporter based in Kinshasa, DRC

---

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the challenges and ethical dilemmas of reporting on a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. NPR host Don Gonyea interviews Emmett Livingstone, NPR’s reporter on the ground, about how journalists weigh the risk to their own health against the importance of telling urgent public health stories. The conversation uncovers the practical realities of fieldwork during an epidemic, the human behaviors in outbreak zones, and the persistent dangers reporters face—from infection risk to regional violence.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Risks of Reporting During an Ebola Outbreak

• Constant Exposure
  Emmett Livingstone describes the omnipresent risk of infection, not just from patients but from anyone in close contact.

  "If you're going into an area with active Ebola transmission, you're taking a risk because you will come into contact with people who either themselves are in very close contact with people who are suffering from Ebola, or you will come into contact with people who potentially have Ebola." – Emmett Livingstone (02:55)

• Safety Precautions
  The main safety measures are relentless hygiene, awareness, and avoiding contact—a challenge in crowded settings.

  "The main way to keep yourself safe is to wash your hands all the time and to be very aware of your surroundings and not to touch people at all. That is pretty difficult..." – Emmett Livingstone (02:55)

• Incubation Period Uncertainty
  Livingstone discusses the personal anxiety of the 3-week incubation period and self-monitoring for symptoms.

  "So now there's a three week incubation period...If I develop a fever, that's a proper emergency. And I'll have to alert the health authorities. So that's why I'm taking my temperature." – Emmett Livingstone (03:35)

Professional Protocol and Training

• Editorial Responsibility
  NPR’s editors prioritize safety, allowing reporters to decline assignments without judgment, and providing specialized training.

  "I was told several times that if I didn't want to go, for example, even at the last minute, that it would be okay." – Emmett Livingstone (04:16)
  "I was given the opportunity to do a special Ebola training...how far away you can stand from people, best practices about equipment, and little tips...having trash bags with you so that if something is contaminated...you can put it in there." – Emmett Livingstone (04:23)

Life in the Epicenter: Case Study from the Gold Mines

• Resilience and Fatalism
  Many workers in outbreak zones are aware of Ebola but must prioritize daily survival and income.

  "People that I spoke to there were aware of the disease...they're afraid of getting the disease, but they just don't really have a choice." – Emmett Livingstone (06:17)

• Impossibility of Precautions
  Distancing and hygiene practices are near impossible for most, given living and working conditions.

  "It's very, very difficult to distance yourself from people. It's very difficult to get access to running water in a place like this...almost everyone is at risk there." – Emmett Livingstone (06:33)

Movement and Security Concerns

• Road Checkpoints
  Various checkpoints serve multiple functions: extracting money, controlling movement, and maintaining security in a region rife with armed conflict.

  "Checkpoints in eastern Congo usually serve as a way to extract money from people...other reasons are also to keep an eye on who's going through." – Emmett Livingstone (07:03)

• Varied Experiences by Appearance and Vehicle
  Foreign reporters sometimes pass more easily through checkpoints, which can be run by local militias.

  "We were almost always just waved through the checkpoints...maybe because we looked more important than we were." – Emmett Livingstone (07:34)

Public Health Efforts and Mistrust

• Distrust of Health Workers
  Locals are wary of outsiders, including aid workers, making health interventions challenging.

  "There's just a general feeling of distrust and you tend to trust your own...if you have an outsider come in and say, this is the way it is and you don't know them, you're much less likely to trust them." – Emmett Livingstone (08:16)

• Community Leaders as Critical Intermediaries
  Building trust with local leaders is pivotal for effective health messaging and community cooperation.

  "The main job is to get [local leaders] on board and then get them to talk to the kind of mass of people who live in these areas..." – Emmett Livingstone (08:43) "If you're a white guy that turns up from Europe or from the US and says, you've got to do this, people just aren't going to listen." – Emmett Livingstone (09:03)

Reflection on Media Coverage

• Fading Attention and Chronic Crisis
  The interest of the media and international community tends to wane, even as the crisis persists.

  "What's going to be difficult is when media attention turns elsewhere and this turns into yet another intractable problem in eastern Congo." – Emmett Livingstone (09:20)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It's no small thing to try and do journalism when there's active, ongoing transmission of Ebola, especially in a place where there's a lot of violence."
  Emmett Livingstone (04:12)

• "If I develop a fever, that's a proper emergency. And I'll have to alert the health authorities."
  Emmett Livingstone (03:39)

• "It's very, very difficult to distance yourself from people. It's very difficult to get access to running water in a place like this. So, you know, almost everyone is at risk there."
  Emmett Livingstone (06:32)

• "The main job is to get [community leaders] on board and then get them to talk to the kind of mass of people who live in these areas to try and convince them."
  Emmett Livingstone (08:45)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Risks and safety precautions: 02:55–04:03
• Editorial guidance and training: 04:11–05:25
• Life in Ebola zones/gold mines: 05:26–06:46
• Security checkpoints: 06:46–08:04
• Distrust of health workers and public health challenges: 08:04–09:11
• Reflection on ongoing coverage and media attention: 09:11–10:05

---

Episode Tone & Final Thoughts

The conversation is measured, empathetic, and practical—balancing sobering realities with professional integrity. Livingstone’s firsthand accounts reveal the ethical and emotional demands of reporting from the epicenter of a deadly outbreak, and underscore the wider issue of global media attention for persistent crises.

---

End of summary.

Transcript

[Don Gonyea]

It's consider this where every day we go deep on one big news story. NPR often relies on reporters going into dangerous places to get the story. It can mean covering a war, natural catastrophes, or highly contagious deadly diseases like the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has killed hundreds of people so far.

[Emmett Livingstone]

And I'm in an Ebola ward with doctors going from isolated room to isolated room checking on Ebola patients.

[Don Gonyea]

Consider this how do you manage the risk of catching a deadly disease and balance it with the need to report the story to a wide audience? Coming up, we'll hear from a reporter who has traveled to the epicenter of the current Ebola outbreak to hear more about those risks and and how to manage them. From NPR. I'm Don Gonyea.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

This message comes from ActiveCampaign. Frustrated with spending hours on AI outputs that don't feel like your brand? Active Intelligence 2.8 from ActiveCampaign keeps you from sounding like everyone else. Describe your tone, your rules and your brand. Brand once and Active Intelligence builds every email and campaign for you with on brand images and content that sounds like you wrote it. Marketers are saving 10 hours every week and getting campaigns they're proud to put their name on. Import your brand in [e-mail] AI support

[Ollie Dog Food Announcer]

for NPR and the following message come from matching outfits, extravagant birthdays, many nicknames, a few classic moves of a dog obsessed parent. Ollie is obsessed with how obsessed you are with your pup, so they strive to give your dog the best. From fresh human grade dog food to in app health. Check ins to track your dog's well being. Visit ollie.com wolf and use code wolf to get 70% off your welcome kit. Ollie, feed the Obsession.

[Don Gonyea]

It' From NPR reporter Emmett Livingstone lives in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. When Ebola surfaced in the eastern part of the country, he traveled to the area to cover it for npr. For this week's Reporter's Notebook, we wanted to understand how a reporter balances the risks of reporting from the heart of a deadly outbreak. I began by asking Emmett a very basic question, how he tries to keep safe.

[Emmett Livingstone]

The reality is if you're going into an area with active Ebola transmission, you're taking a risk because you will come into contact with people who either themselves are in very close contact with people who are suffering from Ebola, or you will come into contact with people who potentially have Ebola. The main way to keep yourself safe is to wash your hands all the time and to be very aware of your surroundings and not to touch people at all. That is pretty difficult in areas where, for example, if you have to go through a checkpoint or if somebody has to check your documents, you're kind of pushed into a funnel with other people and you're trying not to touch them. But those are the. That's what you're supposed to do to try and remain safe. I'm not saying that when I was there, it worked 100% of the time. And so now there's a three week incubation period. So I've been out of the zone for one week. I have another two weeks. If within that three week incubation period I develop a fever, that's a proper emergency. And I'll have to alert the health authorities. So that's why I'm taking my temperature.

[Don Gonyea]

And do you have a personal checklist that you go through every time you enter an area where there are Ebola patients?

[Emmett Livingstone]

So suffice it to say, editors took it very seriously. It's no small thing to try and do journalism when there's active, ongoing transmission of Ebola, especially in a place where there's a lot of violence. The takeaway that I got from editors was not to do anything I was uncomfortable with. I was told several times that if I didn't want to go, for example, even at the last minute, that it would be okay. And then on top of that, I was given the opportunity to do a special ebola training. So training for journalists who are working in Ebola zones, which was extremely useful because you learn things like how far away you can stand from people to keep yourself safe, and then kind of best practices about equipment and little tips that I picked up here and there, which were hard to put into practice on the ground just because we didn't have much time. But, for example, having trash bags with you so that if something is contaminate, if you have to decontaminate something quickly, you can put it in there and then transport it with you in the car and that it won't contaminate other people. So there was a long list of things like that that we were taught essentially before we set off.

[Don Gonyea]

In one of your stories on npr, you describe a gold mining operation and the working conditions and how people are working in such close quarters. You would never know there's an Ebola outbreak.

[Emmett Livingstone]

I'm in a gold mine in Mongualu. It's in a valley surrounded by steep green hills with lush grass, palm trees, eucalyptus trees. You can hear the sound of a Generator and that's pushing sand down a sluice. Workers then look through that sluice to try and find bits of gold there. I'd say maybe 20, 30 pits here. Dozens and dozens and dozens of people are working despite the Ebola outbreak.

[Don Gonyea]

They seem to have no concern because they're so concerned about just doing the work and maybe getting paid and getting through the day.

[Emmett Livingstone]

Yeah, I would nuance it and say that that is probably the case across eastern Congo and even across the whole of Congo. People that I spoke to there were aware of the disease and they were saying that they would like to take precautionary measures and that they're afraid of getting the disease, but they just don't really have a choice. And it doesn't matter whether you're in the mines or not. It's very, very difficult to distance yourself from people. It's very difficult to get access to running water in a place like this. So, you know, almost everyone is at risk there.

[Don Gonyea]

You describe going from region to region, taking a four hour car ride, and there'd be checkpoints along the way. What happens at those checkpoints? Is it just to make sure you really want to go in there or to warn you about what you're entering? What is it?

[Emmett Livingstone]

Checkpoints in eastern Congo usually serve as a way to extract money from people who have to cross those checkpoints, so tolls are extracted. Other reasons are also to keep an eye on who's going through. As I said, this is an area with a lot of armed conflict. So there's a lot of edginess and kind of a feeling of tension about what people are up to and why they're using the road. When I was on the road, it was fairly relaxed. We were almost always just waved through the checkpoints, including by the Kudeco, which is one of the most violent militia groups in Ituri. And they don't resemble very much. In some cases it's say a line of soldiers that are blocking the road, often hassling kind of motorbike drivers and stuff. We were in a jeep. We were kind of mostly waved through, maybe because we looked more important than we were. And then the Kadeko checkpoints, those are the militia checkpoints. It was one or two guys kind of standing by the side of the road who peer into your car and then wave you on.

[Don Gonyea]

And I understand there are all these healthcare workers that you describe being there, but the people who live there don't necessarily trust them and do what they suggest.

[Emmett Livingstone]

There's just a general feeling of distrust and you tend to trust your own. And if you have an outsider come in and say, this is the way it is and you don't know them, you're much less likely to trust them. And I think it's a very human reaction. And people ultimately work the same way all around the world. And interestingly, it's really the key part of the health response at the moment is trying to gain the trust of communities. And the way that the WHO and other organizations are doing this is by targeting community leaders, so be they church leaders, local village chiefs, that kind of thing. The main job is to get them on board and then get them to talk to the kind of mass of people who live in these areas to try and convince them. But if I mean to put it bluntly, if you're a white guy that turns up from Europe or from the US and says, you've got to do this, people just aren't going to listen.

[Don Gonyea]

What can you say about your plans for how you will continue to track the outbreak and the challenges that do arise as you report this story?

[Emmett Livingstone]

Speaking as a reporter, I think what's going to be difficult is when media attention turns elsewhere and this turns into yet another intractable problem in eastern Congo. This is an area where conflict has been ongoing for 30 years and, you know, with various peaks and troughs and kind of like atrocities that occur and then little bits of peace and peace initiatives. But, you know, broadly speaking, there's not that much interest in the region. My worry is that the more this goes on, the less interest there's going to be.

[Don Gonyea]

That's reporter Emmett Livingstone, who's been covering the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo for npr. Emmett, thank you for joining us. And be safe.

[Emmett Livingstone]

Thank you so much for having me on.

[Don Gonyea]

This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez. It was edited by Adam Rainey. Our director is Elena Burnett, and our interim executive producer is Courtney Dor. Consider this from npr, I'm Don Gonyev.

[ActiveCampaign Announcer]

Support for NPR and the following message come from Washington. Wise decisions made in Washington can affect your portfolio every day. Washington Wise from Charles Schwab is an original podcast that unpacks the stories making news in Washington. [e-mail] WashingtonWise.