EBOLA: Panic in Liberia as Population abandons Farms Field and Factories

Ebola is now spreading so fast in West Africa, and causing so much death so quickly, that the regional economy is on the verge of a total collapse. The Washington Post (WP) reports that Liberia, the hardest-hit Ebola country, is now teetering over a chasm of "economic hell," as locals increasingly skip work to avoid infection.

Factory workers, farmers and many others with important daily duties simply aren't showing up to work, which means that goods and services, as well as food, are all becoming progressively more scarce. It is the worst-case scenario that international aid groups hoped wouldn't come about but that is clearly taking shape as the outbreak escalates with no end in sight.
"The basic necessities of survival in Liberia -- food, transportation, work, money, help from the government -- are rapidly being depleted," wrote Fred Barbash for WP. "The FAO [Food and Agricultural Organization] says that food is in increasingly short supply. Fields in some regions have been abandoned in part because people perceive Ebola may be coming from them or from the water used to irrigate them."