world

White House questions new Ebola rules; nurse plans to sue

23 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

23 Comments
Login to comment

This is a deadly virus. No nation wants it to spread. Without a doubt some healthcare personnel have made a mistake and became infected. The cost of the treatment is immense so far in the US. The quarantining is a must with those in contact with infected persons. That cost alone is high per individual.

Why is she complaining? What if she carried the virus? 100 more need to be monitored!

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

No nation wants it to spread.

Someone should tell that to Ann Coulter: http://dailycurrant.com/2014/08/07/ann-coulter-give-ebola-to-migrant-children-2/

1 ( +1 / -0 )

She's really suing? Self-centered people like this really make me sick...

0 ( +3 / -3 )

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one"? Getting fed up with irresponsible public officials who act like they don't know how dangerous the Ebola virus is to our society. This is something that can wipe out humanity.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

surely people who go to West Africa to help understand that a period in quarantine on their return is for the safety of all? seems odd that she has taken this so to heart.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Considering that hundreds of thousands of American citizens were imprisoned for years by Executive Order 9066, without trial or sufficient cause, of course there is going to be some resentment of politicians declaring open-ended quarantines (21 days is the standard quarantine until Christie and Cuomo say so?).

I wouldn't be surprised if the quarantines get dialed down after the midterm elections. Chris Christie is the head of the Republican Governors Association, so a lot of the responsibility for GOP success in this election is riding on him. Gov. Andrew Cuomo does not want to be overshadowed by a NYC mayor like Pataki was by Giuliani dealing with 9/11. But these governors would be wise to study the story of former Republican governor of Colorado, Ralph Carr, who sacrificed his political career by taking a principled approach to opposing the hysteria over Japanese-American interment.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I have a question. Was the mandatory quarantine imposed in secrecy to the public or news media? My guess is no and it was well known to health workers returning from western Africa to the USA. Kaci Hickox would have to have her head buried in the sand to not know that she wasn't going to get a welcome home party upon arrival back in the USA. Surely she is not that naive. Probably some hot shot lawyer saw his golden goose with Kaci and approached her with a plan to sue the state of New Jersey and the feds for multi millions plus a book story of her life In africa and the ordeal of false Imprisonment.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Cumo eased the restrictions in NY so that people can "stay" at home and not be forced. If he thought of running in 2016, he just blew it. He along with Christie showed some guts in putting the well being of the people of their state ahead of partisan politics. But, I guess Cumo had to cave to the Dems. If you look back at 2008, when Hurricane Sandy struck NY/NJ, people slammed Christie for working with Obama on getting relief for the people of his state, knowing that Romney had no real power to get anything done. I applaud him for that, since the well being of the people of NJ is well above partisan politics.

As for this doctor, how did he get Ebola? If he was a professional dealing with these cases, I would assume he was following all of the "protocols." If so, how did he contract it? I would rather he be placed in quaranteen for at least 40 days until we figure out if he was going to be sick.

I hope that no one else gets this disease in NY/NJ area. But if so, Cumo should be fired, and the head of the CDC should be thrown out, and somebody with some common sense put in charge.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

CDC should be thrown out, and somebody with some common sense put in charge.

Anybody with common sense sees that what Cuomo/Christie are doing is pandering to scared know-nothings. It's a ridiculous overreaction.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Anybody with common sense sees that what Cuomo/Christie are doing is pandering to scared know-nothings. It's a ridiculous overreaction.

Sioux Chef: Please tell me then how the doctor contracted the disease? If he is a doctor working on treating people with the disease, and he supposedly followed all of the safety protocols, then how did he contract Ebola?

During the great flood of immigrants from Europe in the late 19th century, once they reached Ellis Island, if they were deemed to be not medicaly qualified, they were quarantined and sent back. If you are sick with the flu, what do they tell you to do? Stay home and not go to work. Ebola is much more deadly than the flu, so why not put this extra precaution in place.

Here's a real test. Would you go hang out with this doctor knowing that he had just come from an area infected with Ebola? To be honest, I wouldn't.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Africa is an awfully big place to contain a disease...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Cumo eased the restrictions in NY so that people can "stay" at home and not be forced. If he thought of running in 2016, he just blew it.

Alpha, have you seen photos of the tent in which the nurse is quarantined? Imagine building ten thousand of those, or a hundred thousand, for a populace which statistically poses no real danger and can be, more or less, quarantined safely in their own homes.

Perhaps Christie can close some bridge on-ramps and build an Ebola tent village there.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If he is a doctor working on treating people with the disease, and he supposedly followed all of the safety protocols, then how did he contract Ebola?

He obviously contracted Ebola from symptomatic patients he was treating by coming into direct contact with bodily fluid. Protocols can fail. That asymptomatic healthcare professionals should be quarantined doesn't follow from this premise.

During the great flood of immigrants from Europe in the late 19th century, once they reached Ellis Island, if they were deemed to be not medicaly qualified, they were quarantined and sent back.

Ok, but we're not talking about immigration. We're talking about Americans.

Here's a real test. Would you go hang out with this doctor knowing that he had just come from an area infected with Ebola? To be honest, I wouldn't.

You're allowed to be irrational. When irrationality becomes public policy, there is a problem.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

What if every American soldier fighting in the middle east were subjected to a few months of mandatory confinement in a psychiatric institution or a few years ban on possession of any firearm? you could as easily justify that saying that some of the soldiers have been a danger to the american population when coming back. I am sure that kind of measures would hurt the amount of people that volunteer to go, not only they would have to risk their lives but also lose liberties when going back.

This is a similar situation, the only real hope to avoid a huge global outbreak that would surely include America is to control the cases in Africa now. If you discourage people to go and risk their lives fighting Ebola in Africa you are actually increasing importantly the risk of having Ebola rampant in America. And the worst part is that it is all done because of the irrational fear of people that have a completely wrong idea about the disease and it risks.

Draconian quarantines of asymptomatic health workers? congratulations, you are increasing the possibilities of getting Ebola in America soon. The mistaken needs of the uneducated many outweighed the real needs of the all.

I am generally against trying to solve things by lawsuits, but in this case it is about someone who is apparently getting subjected to a very demeaning and irrational treatment because the government chose to listen to a popular superstition against the advice of the best professionals in the world. I can't help but think that maybe in USA there is no other way to make the government act logically.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

"That asymptomatic healthcare professionals should be quarantined doesn't follow from this premise."

The doctor was asymptomatic, until he wasn't. He was reportedly "feeling sluggish" on Tuesday(a symptom?) but went out on Wednesday anyway, and then had a fever by Thursday morning. Perhaps the actually contagious point begins 24-48 hours before a fever presents? The supposed experts say otherwise, but experts have been wrong before.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

The doctor was asymptomatic, until he wasn't.

And wasn't contagious until he wasn't.

The supposed experts say otherwise, but experts have been wrong before.

"Supposed" experts? Yes, decades of research is meaningless because people who didn't care about Ebola until it left Africa are incredulous about the facts about it. Such quarantines are irrational and hamper the fight against the disease.

In other relevant news, the sky is, in fact, not falling.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Anyone coming out of the infected area should be quarantined, no ifs buts, or anything else, Simple if you go there you are aware of the returning consequences. Don't like it don't go.

You are ok to risk yourself but no ok to risk anyone else, why subject others needlessly to this disease ?

Bravo for going and helping but be responsible on return and suck it up buttercup.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Alpha, have you seen photos of the tent in which the nurse is quarantined? Imagine building ten thousand of those, or a hundred thousand, for a populace which statistically poses no real danger and can be, more or less, quarantined safely in their own homes.

@ Laguna: Yes I have seen the tent and it could be better. What strikes me as odd is that we will send military troops over there to build them quarantine buildings to help ease the spead of the disease, but will not do so here in America. So why is quarantine good over there but not here?

What if every American soldier fighting in the middle east were subjected to a few months of mandatory confinement in a psychiatric institution or a few years ban on possession of any firearm?

Totally unrelated to this story. You are saying that just because they served in the ME that they are not some whacked out psychos who need to be watched. Not true, many have gone there and come back and are normal. So following your logic, then the ones going to West Africa will need to be placed in quarantine when they come back. Wait, the DoD is going to do just that. So again your argument is not holding any water.

If they said no one can go there and help out, then that would be wrong. If they said you can go there to help, but be advised when you come back you must stay in quarantine for a period of time, that is reasonable. If it is not so easy to contract as the CDC is saying, then why did Frontier Airlines try to contact up to 800 passengers who rode the plane that was used by one of the Dallas nurses who traveled when she was coming down with Ebola? Better to error on the side of caution.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Alphaape

If they said no one can go there and help out, then that would be wrong. If they said you can go there to help, but be advised when you come back you must stay in quarantine for a period of time, that is reasonable.

That's not just reasonable. That's common sense.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Se wasn't just a tourist she was working with patients. The risk is high enough that she should as a Medical professional accept the wisdom of going into a three week quarantine. She should be advocating it rather than fighting it. It boggles the mind how any human being could be altruistic enough to go to the infected region to help can be so self centered at the same time as to "sue".

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Totally unrelated to this story. You are saying that just because they served in the ME that they are not some whacked out psychos who need to be watched. Not true, many have gone there and come back and are normal. So following your logic, then the ones going to West Africa will need to be placed in quarantine when they come back. Wait, the DoD is going to do just that. So again your argument is not holding any water.

On the contrary, if you are putting in quarantine everyone who had contact with ebola patients, even without any symptoms and knowing that the vast majority of them have come back without getting infected then you must be also OK with putting ALL soldiers in psychiatric wards, even if those whacked out psychos are just a few.

If they said no one can go there and help out, then that would be wrong. If they said you can go there to help, but be advised when you come back you must stay in quarantine for a period of time, that is reasonable.

The difference is the kind of quarantine and the timing, keeping somebody who appears to be completely healthy and have no chance of transmitting the disease in a lousy tent without need is way over what should be done, but since a lot of people can't trust the government when it says that the disease is not a magical one that gets transmitted by line of sight, politicians choose to disregard the professional opinions of all the specialists.

If it is not so easy to contract as the CDC is saying, then why did Frontier Airlines try to contact up to 800 passengers who rode the plane that was used by one of the Dallas nurses who traveled when she was coming down with Ebola?

Maybe because healthy and coming down with a disease are mutually exclusive? and you can see that the CDC did NOT quarantined 800 people, even when they had contact with an ebola patient, that speak a lot about how difficult it is to get it from normal everyday contact.

Better to error on the side of caution.

That is the thing, it is not the side of caution and it is not better. It is like a person diagnosed with cancer that gets recommended to do a few cycles of radio and chemotherapy by his oncologist, but when informed that the chemo and radio bring a small risk of further cancer chooses to wait and see if he can heal "naturally" and prefer to "err on the side of caution"

By making wrong containment decisions based on lies (no matter how popular those lies are) the American government is making a losing bet. Instead of going for the easy kill of an outbreak when it is still far away and in limited places people prefer to close their eyes and make as difficult as possible for the professionals needed to go and do the fighting in Africa, that will only result in the disease spreading globally and enter America in every way possible without any chance of containment.

American people are pushing for measures against their own interest because of an irrational fear based on ignorance and rejection of good science.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

On the contrary, if you are putting in quarantine everyone who had contact with ebola patients, even without any symptoms and knowing that the vast majority of them have come back without getting infected then you must be also OK with putting ALL soldiers in psychiatric wards, even if those whacked out psychos are just a few.

So what about the current case in NYC. He came back from the Ebola area and felt fine. Now he is in the hospital. He didn't show any signs but now he is sick. Are you willing to take that chance for the general population? By the way, the US military will require the troops that are coming back from the area to go into quarantine for a period of days before they are released to the general public. So do you think that this is a violation of their human rights?

I don't think so. We have to take into consideration the general public.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

He didn't show any signs but now he is sick. Are you willing to take that chance for the general population?

What chance? he was not considered contagious when asymptomatic nor he forced anyone to pass hours and hours in close contact dealing with his body fluids.

By the way, the US military will require the troops that are coming back from the area to go into quarantine for a period of days before they are released to the general public. So do you think that this is a violation of their human rights?

And that quarantine of days have prevented the occurrence of whackos killing innocent civilians? I mentioned the months in a psychiatric ward and gun ban for every single soldier for a reason. To be more clear, there are measures that are logical and based on the reality (got symptoms? isolation and notification until proven clear) and measures that are irrational and based on ignorance and plain fear (totally healthy? I don't care, to a lousy tent for a month)

When somebody has been dealing with the top of the cream of professionals in the field having the realities of the disease hammered into their heads because it is literally a life or death situation, and then come back to their countries to be treated like third class people just because of superstitions and ignorance, it is totally understandable that they feel mistreated and worry what this superstitions will bring in the near future.

We have to take into consideration the general public.

The best interest of the American public is to stop the outbreak now, before it extends beyond possible control. To do that you have to support as much as possible any professional that chooses to risk its life to do it, even when that means that you might increase the risk a little bit. If you choose to treat people like refugees because you believe against all reality that the disease propagates magically by the slightest contact, the only thing you are doing is increasing a huge lot more the risk of a global outbreak that of course will include America.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites