NYT: White house presses states to reverse mandatory Ebola quarantine

[zoogs]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/nyregion/ebola-quarantine.html?_r=0

 

A senior administration official, who did not want to be identified in order to discuss private conversations with state officials on the issue, called the decision by the governors uncoordinated, very hurried, an immediate reaction to the New York City case that doesnt comport with science.

At the same time, the first person to be forced into isolation under the new protocols, Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone, planned to mount a legal challenge to the quarantine order. Despite having no symptoms, she has been kept under quarantine at a hospital in New Jersey, where she has been confined to a tent equipped with a portable toilet and no shower. On Sunday, she spoke to CNN about the way she has been treated, describing it as inhumane.

[True2tRA]

Inhumane?

 

Gimme a break.

 

Inhumane would be not taking precautions and allowing this person to go about her business. The term "better safe than sorry" was coined a long time ago and it's always made sense. This selfish person would rather risk others health and her own instead of being forced to use a port a potty and no shower. Geez, the torture and abuse of having to use a port a potty. I can't imagine the hell she's going through. Those unheated hard plastic seats. I belt they're forcing her to use single ply to wipe too, not her usual triple ply Charmin with the little smelly flowers on it. Probably have that sh**ty linen scented Febreeze too, not the flower garden scent she likes. Oh, my heart just aches for her.

[True2tRA]

OMFG! All she has is an iPhone to communicate with the outside world! It's probably not even an iPhone 6, probably one of those sh**ty iPhone 5's! The horror of this situation! What kind of military state are we living in when a person is subjected to simply using texting, Facebook, and phone calls as a way to communicate!? This must be hell on earth for this woman.

 

I don't understand they they can't just let her back into the population and if she gets sick or infects a few other people, then we would know for sure the she should be quarantined. I mean, until then, we are just being over cautious. It just seems ridiculous. I mean, so a few people may die.....big deal. I'd much rather have a few people pass away from this before we just start guessing who may or may not be infected when coming back from treating Ebola patients in Africa.

[zoogs]

She's subject to a political decision driven by irrational public panic that federal officials say "doesn't comport with science" and shows no symptoms. So I think she has a point.

 

If your understanding of the public health risk she poses were accurate, then this wouldn't be an issue, I'm guessing.

 

On Friday night, those carefully laid plans were thrown aside when Mr. Christie and Mr. Cuomo called for the mandatory quarantine.

 

“The entire city was not informed, even the mayor’s office,” according to a city official involved in New York’s Ebola response. “The mayor was caught unaware.”

 

“The big picture decision was made in the absence of any deep thinking about what implementing the policy would entail,” the official said.

 

As for Ms. Hickox, her plane happened to land precisely at the wrong moment.

 

“This nurse just happened to land mid-conversation between the two governors,” the official said.

[True2tRA]

Aside from the bamboo chutes under her fingernails, the metal spike being driven into her eye socket, the waterboarding, electric shock, and glass shards she's being forced to ingest will she be okay? I mean, this torture she's enduring to ensure the safety of some possible innocent men, women, and children she comes in contact with in her nursing profession, well this just makes her a genuine hero. She should be given the medal of honor after all she's been through. I mean, we've had men and women die in battle to ensure the safety of American civilians, but that's nothing compared to the hell she's going through.

 

Did you hear she has to use a port a potty? The nerve of this government..........

[Street Novelist]

Preach brother, preach! I don't give a f#*k about one person being uncomfortable in a nice American hospital when she could infect Americans with a deadly disease for which there is no known cure. Aren't we supposed to look out for the better good of all Americans instead of just one?

[carlfense]

It's crazy how quickly we're willing to trample the most basic freedoms while simultaneously denouncing mandatory health insurance as "tyranny", isn't it?

[TonyStalloni]

If anyone says they would be fine after learning they had shared a bus or taxi seat with a person they later found out had been a nurse in an area of the world treating ebola patients then I would say they are less then forthright. I'm guessing you would quickly find a Purell bottle or a bathroom with soap and warm water. Quarantine has been used for a long time to isolate the population from a potential disaster.

[tschu]

Forced quarantine for people with no symptoms is really ridiculous. The fear in this country is out of control.

[zoogs]

Exactly, tschu. Panic is a powerful thing.

 

These governors are disregarding the treatment of human beings based on either persistent ignorance or fear, or maybe more unfortunately, the desire to score personal political points with a panic-striken populace.

 

However, I should say governor in the singular at this point, and even for Christie, this is fast becoming a position that's not politically viable.

 

NYT: Under pressure, Cuomo loosens policy for Ebola Quarantines in New York

 

Earlier in the day, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the treatment of the nurse, Kaci Hickox,had been shameful and vowed that New York City would do all it could to honor the work of the health care workers here and those who go to help fight the epidemic in West Africa.

New York's Governor Cuomo, confronted with the error of his ways, has reversed course. Ball is now in Christie's court.

[True2tRA]

Forced quarantine for people with no symptoms is really ridiculous. The fear in this country is out of control.

Panic? This is about making sense. We are so damn concerned about this one persons rights? What about the rights of all the other people in her community who want to be sure this nurse is not sick before they bring their child in to her care?

 

I don't want to run into somebody who just got back from a west Africa trip. Not without knowing they aren't sick.

 

This is about common sense.

 

You telling me Tschu or Zoogies that you want this gal making your sandwich at Subway? You want her taking your blood or giving you an IV at the hospital?

 

I'm not paranoid about this Ebola thing at all, I live in the middle of the country and I don't even think about this whole thing in my day to day life. There are people out there that do have to think about it though, and I don't blame them for wanting to do all they can to assure their safety.

 

So some little whiny c***s gotta sit in a quarantine for a little while. Big deal.

[tschu]

lol wow

[zoogs]

True, there are people indeed out there who do think about it, and those people are called public health experts, and they are the ones saying the unilateral actions taken by these two governors were nuts.

 

I mean, how do you feel about Cuomo reversing his position after confronted with rationality and pressure? There was no 'sense' behind it to begin with. Just one (two) guys.

[ZRod]

Why don't we quarantine people who have been in contact with the flu? It's a virus much more contagious than Ebola, and more deadly when it comes to shear numbers.

[zoogs]

Actually, that reminds me of 2009, when I traveled out of country during the Summer of the Swine Flu (which unlike Ebola, is respiratory). They had inspectors check everyone on the flight upon landing for symptoms and I believe I had to stay in a hotel on an official list of hotels for roughly a week. Although since I could walk around outside and all that and I can't remember anyone actually checking up on me, I'm not sure what good it did, but that was the policy.