Public Health or Public Relations?
October 27, 2014 6:13 AM Subscribe
"They are the authorities. They sometimes can't base their decisions only on the science." Last week, a doctor in New York City, who had been in Guinea treating ebola victims, testing positive for Ebola. In response, the Governors Offices of New York and New Jersey issued mandatory quarantine orders for healthcare workers who have worked with patients with ebola.
These mandatory quarantine orders were implemented without consulting with public health officials; were called "neither warranted nor recommended" by Doctors Without Borders; exceed CDC recommendations; and are seen as a barrier to fighting ebola where it matters.
The first nurse quarantined offers her experience. And The new Yorker asks "is quarantine something we should trust to protect us, or is it something we actually need protection from?"
Under pressure from the White House, Governor Cuomo said that quarantines can be spent at home - thus bringing them a bit further in line with scientific recommendations.
Additional background:
Facts about Ebola, from the WHO.
Good background on the ebola epidemic from Vanity Fair.
And, of course, ebola previously, previously, etc.
These mandatory quarantine orders were implemented without consulting with public health officials; were called "neither warranted nor recommended" by Doctors Without Borders; exceed CDC recommendations; and are seen as a barrier to fighting ebola where it matters.
The first nurse quarantined offers her experience. And The new Yorker asks "is quarantine something we should trust to protect us, or is it something we actually need protection from?"
Under pressure from the White House, Governor Cuomo said that quarantines can be spent at home - thus bringing them a bit further in line with scientific recommendations.
Additional background:
Facts about Ebola, from the WHO.
Good background on the ebola epidemic from Vanity Fair.
And, of course, ebola previously, previously, etc.
This post was deleted for the following reason: We have quite a few Ebola posts currently active, and this is has been brought up in at least one; probably better to add extra links to the discussion there rather than splintering the conversation further. -- taz
This seems bad all over - bad policy, bad communication, bad public health.
My question when I first heard about nurse Hickox's experience was ... what if she just walks away? Just exits the tent and strolls out to ... downtown Newark? Are they going to shoot her?
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 6:23 AM on October 27, 2014
My question when I first heard about nurse Hickox's experience was ... what if she just walks away? Just exits the tent and strolls out to ... downtown Newark? Are they going to shoot her?
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 6:23 AM on October 27, 2014
While the politicians may have gone a bit overboard, it's clear that some additional controls were needed. What if the cab carrying Dr. Craig Spencer had been in an accident rendering him unconscious and bloodied? What if he became contagious a few hours before he realized it? There are dozens of scenarios in which Dr. Spencer's best intentions could have been thwarted resulting in a spread of infections. I'm sorry but making such medical professionals stay home for a few weeks after returning from their close proximity to ebola is not only reasonable but rational.
posted by Jamesonian at 6:24 AM on October 27, 2014
posted by Jamesonian at 6:24 AM on October 27, 2014
The announcement by Mr. Cuomo seemed intended to draw a sharp contrast — both in tone and in fact — to the policy’s implementation in New Jersey, where a nurse from Maine who arrived on Friday from Sierra Leone was swiftly quarantined in a tent set up inside a Newark hospital, with a portable toilet but with no shower.
...
After Mr. Cuomo’s announcement, Mr. Christie issued a statement saying that, under protocols announced on Wednesday, New Jersey residents not displaying symptoms would also be allowed to quarantine in their homes.
Until Sunday night, the quarantine orders by Mr. Christie, a Republican, and Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, had drawn withering criticism from many medical experts, who said they would discourage aid workers from volunteering to help eradicate the disease at its source. By midday Sunday, Kaci Hickox, the nurse who became the first person isolated under the new protocols in New Jersey, emerged as the public face of the opposition, calling the treatment she received “inhumane” and disputing Mr. Christie’s assertion a day earlier that she was “obviously ill.”
Panic and the "need" to be seen "doing" something makes for stupid, unethical, probably illegal, and definitely unenforceable policy.
If someone who volunteered in or transited through an Ebola-affected country flies into BWI and then takes the train home to NY or NJ, this would be enforced how? Is Christie going to require the mandatory quarantine of every soldier who's been sent there?
posted by rtha at 6:25 AM on October 27, 2014
...
After Mr. Cuomo’s announcement, Mr. Christie issued a statement saying that, under protocols announced on Wednesday, New Jersey residents not displaying symptoms would also be allowed to quarantine in their homes.
Until Sunday night, the quarantine orders by Mr. Christie, a Republican, and Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, had drawn withering criticism from many medical experts, who said they would discourage aid workers from volunteering to help eradicate the disease at its source. By midday Sunday, Kaci Hickox, the nurse who became the first person isolated under the new protocols in New Jersey, emerged as the public face of the opposition, calling the treatment she received “inhumane” and disputing Mr. Christie’s assertion a day earlier that she was “obviously ill.”
Panic and the "need" to be seen "doing" something makes for stupid, unethical, probably illegal, and definitely unenforceable policy.
If someone who volunteered in or transited through an Ebola-affected country flies into BWI and then takes the train home to NY or NJ, this would be enforced how? Is Christie going to require the mandatory quarantine of every soldier who's been sent there?
posted by rtha at 6:25 AM on October 27, 2014
Have they figured out yet how some people who followed all the best practices for dealing with Ebola patients acquired the disease themselves?
posted by smackfu at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2014
posted by smackfu at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2014
Presumably, there have been hundreds of volunteers who have returned to the U.S. over the last year and managed to not spread Ebola around despite no quarantine.
posted by double bubble at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2014
posted by double bubble at 6:26 AM on October 27, 2014
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posted by Dip Flash at 6:20 AM on October 27, 2014