Kaci Hickox- what side are you on? Mandatory quarantine or not?

nevermind

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Originally Posted by JBaxter

I thought she did have a fever when she departed the plane that was the reason she was confined in NJ. I would have said let her self monitor but since the other doctor self monitored by running around NYC eating out and bowling then came down w/ Ebola a few hours later I'm ready to error on the side of caution. She has a really snarky attitude

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Have you heard what she went through? I think I'd be snarky too!

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Originally Posted by TxCat

That seems like a huge leap of logic to me. And I'd be really, really surprised if they didn't have a personal belief or health exemption. Every hospital I've worked at in California and Texas has had one.

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My sister is a PTA in IL and there is no exemption. You can refuse the flu shot but you then lose your job, no exceptions.

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Originally Posted by TwinFoxes

Frankly all this "she's strident" she has a bad attitude etc. smacks of mysogyny. Why can't she just be nice and sweet, why does she have to be so bitchy?

She was kept in quarantine in NJ even after she tested negative, in a tent with few clothes. I'd be bitchy too. And Maine has no legal grounds to quarantine her, that's why she's saying she won't comply.

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WORD. Thank you for articulating that - it's been bugging me too.

Also I am pretty sure she was only released from NJ because they were threatening to take legal action and the state knew they would lose for essentially imprisoning her. If she hadn't protested it, she would most likely still be in the quarantine tent.

For those of you still citing the NY doctor- has anyone who was on the subway or in the bowling alley with him gotten ill? No. And they won't. It takes much more than a casual contact with someone who does not have a fever to get Ebola. The science does show this in multiple studies. It is not airborne. Maybe if he vomited on someone on the subway.
Also- military quarantining does not mean it is warranted or good science. I think that is a weak argument at best. There are many things the military chooses to do with soldiers that are just not practical or of benefit to population as a whole but they can do that because they are the military and you agree to that when you join.

I still think we are getting overconfident based on a very small sample size. We don't yet know if the NY doctor infected anyone as we are just arriving at the point in time when those cases would be most likely to show up (8 to 10 days post exposure). I agree that it is unlikely and hope it doesn't occur -- fortunately, the NY city health department still believes in quarantine and those with the greatest contact with him have been staying in their homes.

I mentioned the Sawyer case yesterday because he infected people who greeted him at the airport and drove with him to the hospital. That example is available because he was patient zero in Nigeria and the spread of the disease was documented. The NBC camera man has said he does not know what his exposure was. Spencer said he didn't know when he breached protocol. I agree with others that how easily the disease spreads once someone becomes symptomatic is one of the gray areas with this disease. There is research that suggests that a relatively small percentage of people have natural immunity to the disease (at least in West Africa) which may or may not be relevant to why some get the disease and others do not. I do not have a high level of confidence in the CDC -- their overconfidence in our ability to confront ebola here has already led to the infection of two nurses (and perhaps even the death of Duncan who had to wait days before properly admitted to the hospital).

I'm not a fear monger and I don't believe it will be an epidemic here. But if we continue to have an ebola case every week or two (and it looks like there is another potential case in Oregon), the chance for error increases and the likelihood of the disease affecting additional people beyond the person already infected increases.

From the AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...11-01-10-25-24

This week, several top infectious disease experts ran simulations for The Associated Press that predicted as few as one or two additional infections by the end of 2014 to a worst-case scenario of 130.

"I don't think there's going to be a huge outbreak here, no," said Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University's medical school. "However, as best we can tell right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a handful of cases."

ETA: The CDC admits Ebola can be spread by a sneeze, even if the droplets were on a door knob (up to a day before according to other sources): http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/cdc-admits-droplets-from-a-sneeze-could-spread-ebola/

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Originally Posted by Melbel

From the AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...11-01-10-25-24

This week, several top infectious disease experts ran simulations for The Associated Press that predicted as few as one or two additional infections by the end of 2014 to a worst-case scenario of 130.

"I don't think there's going to be a huge outbreak here, no," said Dr. David Relman, a professor of infectious disease, microbiology and immunology at Stanford University's medical school. "However, as best we can tell right now, it is quite possible that every major city will see at least a handful of cases."

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He's expecting every major city to see a handful of cases? I mean clearly he's the infectious disease expert, and I was certified in CPR once, but that just doesn't seem likely by the end of the year.

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Originally Posted by calebsmama03

My sister is a PTA in IL and there is no exemption. You can refuse the flu shot but you then lose your job, no exceptions.

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It must vary state by state then, or at the discretion of the employer. We can refuse any and all vaccines (same was true when I worked in CA), but I think there is a very low refusal rate, as would be expected.