The Dangers of Quarantines: Ebola Policies Made in Panic Cause More Damage

[applegrove]

The Dangers of Quarantines: Ebola Policies Made in Panic Cause More Damage

Editorial Board, NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/28/opinion/ebola-policies-made-in-panic-cause-more-damage.html?smid=re-share

"SNIP..........................



It’s not surprising that they have started to adjust their earlier positions, which seemed politically motivated, as they have come under a barrage of criticism from public health experts for their dangerous overreaction. They now say they will allow health care workers to be confined to their own homes, where they will be checked twice a day by public health officials.

Lost in this grandstanding was one essential point. The danger to the public in New York in the case of Dr. Craig Spencer, who had worked in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders, was close to nonexistent. Health experts are virtually unanimous in declaring that people infected with the virus do not become contagious until after they develop a fever or other symptoms, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or severe headaches, at which time they need to be hospitalized and taken out of circulation.


Health care workers like Dr. Spencer know that it is in their interest to ensure that — if symptoms do arise — they get care quickly to improve their chances of survival and to reduce the risk of infecting their friends and families. Dr. Spencer reported his temperature promptly when it was a low-grade fever of a 100.3 degrees and was rushed to Bellevue Hospital Center for isolation and treatment while his fiancée and two friends were put into voluntary isolation.

Fortunately, for the public, there are clearer heads at the federal level than there are in the statehouses of New York and New Jersey. On Monday, strict new federal monitoring rules, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, went into effect for travelers entering the United States from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The rules are designed to avoid the confusion of state-by-state policies, give health workers and other travelers a clearer idea of what to expect and reassure the public that somebody is in charge. State and local health departments will contact travelers daily for 21 days after their departure from West Africa to check on their temperatures and other symptoms (21 days is the maximum period for symptoms to develop). If the returning health care workers fail to report as required, health officials will track them down using contact information they have provided upon entry.




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[Warpy]

1. In related news, as soon as she started talking lawsuit

Kaci Hickox was released from her quarantine tent and allowed to travel to her home in Maine.

They suddenly discovered that she didn't have any symptoms, after all.

Nothing makes you stupider than panic does. Never act on it, people.

[Cha]

2. Kick for reading.. mahalo apple~

[SheilaT]

3. I don't have language strong enough to express

how fucking stupid these quarantines are. The people imposing them don't seem to understand the very basics of disease in general, let alone the specifics of how someone gets Ebola.

Of course, there have been numerous stupid postings here on DU about how magically easy it is to get Ebola and how anyone can get it just from being in the same room.

[Live and Learn]

7. Nothing is more frightening than mass hysteria. nt

[seabeyond]

10. +1. me either, appalled. nt

[Cha]

4. The NYT ED Nails these two.. from your link, apple..

"To make matters worse, two ambitious governors — Chris Christie of New Jersey and Andrew Cuomo of New York — fed panic by imposing a new policy of mandatory quarantines for all health care workers returning from the Ebola-stricken countries of West Africa through John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty international airports. There is absolutely no public health justification for mandatory quarantines."

Thank you!

[uppityperson]

5. I posted a thread of the 4 categories and what it means. It is quite interesting, #1 needlestick

from known ebola pt (high risk) to #4 : Contact with a person with ebola before the person developed symptoms (No identifiable risk)


http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025724666

[Midnight Writer]

6. Does anyone remember the RW "FEMA Death Camps" meme

Just a few years ago, it was the conservatives freaking out that Americans would be put into FEMA concentration camps without due process for no legitimate reason.

Now it is the conservative narrative that anyone remotely suspected of being in contact with anyone remotely suspected of having Ebola should be locked up without due process for no legitimate reason.

And how far does this go? Does it include the medical staff that treated any of these patients (along with their families, and the students and staff at the schools their children attend, and their families, all who have been possibly exposed)? How about anyone who rode in the same subway, or dined in the same restaurants, or went to the same bowling alley, or jogged on the same path, (as Gretchen Carlson on Fox worried "He was surely sweating, and isn't that a bodily fluid that could spread Ebola?)? If there is indeed only six degrees of separation, I suspect we will all be quarantined in very short order.

I just find it fascinating how quickly the right-wing turns in a totally opposite direction when that suits its purpose, which in this case is to fan the flames of panic just before an election.

[nikto]

8. If so many Americans weren't conditioned to being chickenshit...

Panics like this one wouldn't precipitate so easily.




Chickenshit is as chickenshit does.

[seabeyond]

9. cowards. the unreasonable. i am truly fuckin shocked. but then i was one they were afraid to get

on a plane and allow our rights to be trampled.