The Obama administration and some of the major US States are pulling in different directions over the stringent Ebola quarantine norms announced by these States for travellers, including American healthcare workers, coming from the West African nations in the grip of the deadly virus.
After a New York doctor tested positive last Thursday for Ebola, days after attending to patients in Guinea, Governors of New York and New Jersey imposed a 21-day mandatory quarantine for anyone who has had direct contact with Ebola patients in the three worst-hit African countries. Illinois and Florida have followed suit.
The White House, concerned that such a stringent provision will deter US doctors and nurses from volunteering to help the affected countries deal with the crisis, began pressuring the States over the weekend to revise the norms, given that only those with manifestation of Ebola symptoms can spread the virus.
In the wake of these pressures, New York’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a relaxation on Sunday night, saying medical workers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa but did not show symptoms of the disease would be allowed to remain at home with twice-a-day monitoring from medical professionals.
New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie has been faced with a more piquant situation with a nurse returning from Sierra leone, put on quarantine despite testing negative twice for Ebola. The nurse, Kaci Hickox, has threatened to sue Christie’s 21-day mandatory quarantine policy, saying she has been treated “like a criminal” with her human rights violated.
On Monday, New Jersey decided to release the nurse and let her fly to her home in Maine after consulting with Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the midst of the pulls and pressures over Ebola quarantine, a five-year-old boy, who arrived in New York on Saturday night from Guinea, has been rushed to a New York hospital for observation in isolation as he reportedly developed fever. Preliminary results were expected by Monday afternoon. Five members of the boy’s family were being quarantined inside their apartment.