On Friday it was being speculated that the Obama administration might follow in the foot steps of New York, New Jersey, Florida and Illinois in imposing mandatory quarantines on returning health care workers. Today's report is that the White House is urging the state governments to drop their hastily imposed requirements.
White House Presses States to Reverse Mandatory Ebola Quarantine Orders
The Obama administration has been pushing the governors of New York and New Jersey to reverse their decision ordering all medical workers returning from West Africa who had contact with Ebola patients to be quarantined, an administration official said on Sunday.
But both governors, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, stood by their decision, saying that the federal guidelines did not go far enough.
At the same time, the first person to be forced into isolation under the new protocols, Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone, planned to mount a legal challenge to the quarantine order. Despite having no symptoms, she has been kept under quarantine at a hospital in New Jersey, where she has been confined to a tent equipped with a portable toilet and no shower. On Sunday, she spoke to CNN about the way she has been treated, describing it as “inhumane.”
The rapidly escalating events played out both privately, in intense negotiations and phone calls between federal and state officials, as well as publicly in Ms. Hickox’s pointed criticism of the New Jersey governor.
So far Christie is the only governor who has actually managed to capture a health care worker. Since she doesn't have ebola and is putting up a spirited fight for her civil rights, it is creating a political drama for the media to salivate over.
Returning health care workers can still enter the country via Dulles or Atlanta without having to deal with quarantine. This makes the whole thing a three ring political circus.