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

[TxCat]

Patrick Sawyer, the American who showed symptoms while on a flight to Nigeria, infected a fair number of people.

As far as I'm aware, the Nigerians who contracted Ebola from Patrick Sawyer were all people who had contact with his care at the hospital, not people on the plane with him or at the airport. Do you have other information from a reputable source?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...t-virus-there/

[indigo99]

21 day home quarantine is not something to take lightly. I would go insane.

Meh. I did about 3 months when I was pregnant with DS. Granted I was sick as a dog and couldn't even walk down the stairs, but I think having an excuse to stay home might not be that bad. As for the second part about what to call those who are for quarantine and against vaccinations, I thought of something but held back since this isn't the political forum.

[TxCat]

It is sort of similar. Most hospitals do require their employees to get flu shots, even if they don't have direct patient contact.

Hospitals and clinics asking their employees to get flu shots (which you can refuse on a personal belief exemption anyways) does not seem similar to mandatory quarantine in any way I can imagine.

[twowhat?]

No on mandatory quarantine. There's no need for it. I do think there should be careful monitoring (self is fine), and probably some rules surrounding public transportation (but it gets really messy to come up with a "rule" here. No flights? No subways? No flights over a certain number of hours, or to a place with an unprepared hospital?) I personally think short flights/public transport are fine in the absence of a fever when boarding.

And the fever thing...it's unfortunate that we really just don't have a better "rapid noninvasive test" so I think fever/travel/contact history is just what it's going to have to be. Those forehead scanners can be really inaccurate. It's unfortunate that the nurse had "fever" along with relevant travel/contact history. I don't think she should have been forced into a mandatory quarantine after verifying (oral thermometer, then blood test) that she didn't have a (current) fever or Ebola. But once the quarantine was imposed, I think she should have just done it. And then make a big stink about it AFTER.

[westwoodmom04]

As far as I'm aware, the Nigerians who contracted Ebola from Patrick Sawyer were all people who had contact with his care at the hospital, not people on the plane with him or at the airport. Do you have other information from a reputable source?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...t-virus-there/

You are right, at least some of them were doctors and nurses who cared for him, but he was found to cause 19 cases total. Hard to get details about them, a few were spouses of healthcare workers who were quarantined but not clear for how long. http://www.businessinsider.com/how-n...-ebola-2014-10

[westwoodmom04]

Hospitals and clinics asking their employees to get flu shots (which you can refuse on a personal belief exemption anyways) does not seem similar to mandatory quarantine in any way I can imagine.

Both are requiring healthcare workers to take or not take specific actions for the greater public good. Don't think there is a personal exemption at my husband's hospital.

[sdoyle]

I agree with all of the above regarding no quarantine. It is not based in science and will most definitely lead to fewer healthcare workers volunteering to help contain the disease. This nurse did not have an elevated core temp when checked with an oral thermometer- the gold standard. You are not contagious until you are symptomatic because the viral load is not high enough to infect others. We know this because it is not a new virus and has been studied. Politicians have no business determining medical care. They are not protecting the public from anything but promoting themselves through buying into and promoting unnecessary hysteria. So disappointing.

[TxCat]

Both are requiring healthcare workers to take or not take specific actions for the greater public good. Don't think there is a personal exemption at my husband's hospital.

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.

[westwoodmom04]

I agree with all of the above x a million!!!

Also want to add that the facts of Kaci Hickox's "fever" are very much in dispute - when her temperature was rechecked with a more accurate oral temperature probe, it registered as being completely normal. It seems pretty dangerous to rest the case for mandatory quarantine on a fever that likely never occurred. Additionally, the New England Journal of Medicine, the most well-respected medical journal in the US, if not one of the most well-respected in the world, came out with a very strongly-worded editorial this week arguing against mandatory quarantines as they are NOT BASED ON SCIENCE!!! Fear-mongering, sure, but actual science, no. To date, no casual contacts of Nina Pham, Amber Vinson or Craig Spencer have been diagnosed with Ebola. Because all of those health personnel were not sick with Ebola at the time they were interacting with others! As soon as all three became febrile, they alerted health officials and were checked in to a hospital. People do not get Ebola from being in the same store with a person who is not yet actively ill!

ETA: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1413139

Firstly, not clear if this editorial was written to address the quarantine imposed over the weekend, where the nurse was kept in a tent, or the home-based quarantine that replaced it. Could be both, but I think even a good chunk of those who favor home quarantine would agree the tent treatment was ridiculous and not justified.

Second, if there is truly "no science' behind mandatory 21 day quarantines and no risk to allowing people who have been directly exposed to a person in the hours before they develop a fever or are symptomatic to traipse around town, then shouldn't we stop quarantining direct contacts of healthcare workers who become infected? However, this remains part of the toolbox regularly employed by pubic health departments who appear to be guided by the CDC. Most recently, Spencer's fiance and two friends were placed on 21 day home quarantine, ending in mid-November. Personally, I think the "no science" argument is a bit disingenious. It isn't that there is "no science", it is that when the powers that be do the risk-balancing, they weigh the importance of continuing to supply doctors to Africa more heavily than the preventative value of imposing the quarantine on returning healthcare workers with direct exposure. Perfectly legitimate-- but let's just say that or get rid of the quarantines entirely if they really are so unnecessary.

[o_mom]

She was exposed to Ebola and she had a fever when she came back. It would be a wonderful coincidence if she had a fever for some other reason than Ebola. But the rule of law is established by the Executive branch of those states -- and they have the emergency powers to do that and the rule is quarantine. I am fine with her suing because of her belief that the law violates her rights. A judge or jury can determine that in time. But I am not fine with her violating the quarantine mandate until that happens. We have a system of checks and balances in this country and if believe strongly that we can protest laws, we can sue over them, but we can't just break them.

CNN says that there is actually no order in place. They said the Governor needs to get a court order because right now she is not violating anything.