Aides
to President Obama are criticizing decisions by three states to
quarantine people who are returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and United Nations ambassador Samantha Power said quarantines may discourage health workers from traveling to West Africa to help block the disease at its source.
"If you put everyone in one basket, even people who are clearly no threat, then we have the problem of the disincentive of people that we need," Fauci said on ABC's This Week. "Let's not forget the best way to stop this epidemic and protect America is to stop it in Africa, and you can really help stopping it in Africa if we have our people, our heroes, the health care workers, go there and help us to protect America."
Power, who is traveling in West Africa, told NBC News that quarantine plans in New York, New Jersey and Illinois are "haphazard and not well thought out," and could discourage health workers from going to West Africa in the first place.
"We cannot take measures here that are going to impact our ability to flood the zone," Power said. "We have to find the right balance between addressing the legitimate fears that people have and encouraging and incentivizing these heroes."
Officials in New Jersey, New York and Illinois, who acted in the wake of a new Ebola case in New York, said they cannot rely on people to quarantine themselves.
"I don't think when you're dealing with something as serious as this you can count on a voluntary system," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, speaking on Fox News Sunday. "This is the government's job."
He added: "I think this is a policy that will become a national policy sooner or later."
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, also defended the quarantine policy Sunday in a radio interview, according to the New York Times. Cuomo said that it was important to require people to monitor themselves by law. "If you had someone who didn't want to cooperate, you can enforce it legally, there's no doubt about that," he said on Radio 103.9.
In New Jersey, a nurse who worked had been working with Doctors Without Borders with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone became the first person to be quarantined under the new regulations when she arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.
The nurse, Kaci Hickox, has criticized the way her case has been handled, raising concerns from humanitarian and human rights groups over unclear policies for the newly launched quarantine program.
Hickox wrote a first-person account for the Dallas Morning News, which was posted on the paper's website Saturday. Her preliminary tests for Ebola came back negative.
"This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me," Hickox wrote of her quarantine. "I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa. I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganization, fear and, most frightening, quarantine. … The U.S. must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity."
Republican members of Congress have also called on the Obama administration to enact more travel restrictions into and out of West Africa.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told CNN's State of the Union that state officials are taking action in the absence of federal leadership.
"Governors of both parties are reacting because there isn't a trust in the leadership of this administration," Issa said.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and United Nations ambassador Samantha Power said quarantines may discourage health workers from traveling to West Africa to help block the disease at its source.
"If you put everyone in one basket, even people who are clearly no threat, then we have the problem of the disincentive of people that we need," Fauci said on ABC's This Week. "Let's not forget the best way to stop this epidemic and protect America is to stop it in Africa, and you can really help stopping it in Africa if we have our people, our heroes, the health care workers, go there and help us to protect America."
Power, who is traveling in West Africa, told NBC News that quarantine plans in New York, New Jersey and Illinois are "haphazard and not well thought out," and could discourage health workers from going to West Africa in the first place.
"We cannot take measures here that are going to impact our ability to flood the zone," Power said. "We have to find the right balance between addressing the legitimate fears that people have and encouraging and incentivizing these heroes."
Officials in New Jersey, New York and Illinois, who acted in the wake of a new Ebola case in New York, said they cannot rely on people to quarantine themselves.
"I don't think when you're dealing with something as serious as this you can count on a voluntary system," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, speaking on Fox News Sunday. "This is the government's job."
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, also defended the quarantine policy Sunday in a radio interview, according to the New York Times. Cuomo said that it was important to require people to monitor themselves by law. "If you had someone who didn't want to cooperate, you can enforce it legally, there's no doubt about that," he said on Radio 103.9.
In New Jersey, a nurse who worked had been working with Doctors Without Borders with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone became the first person to be quarantined under the new regulations when she arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday.
The nurse, Kaci Hickox, has criticized the way her case has been handled, raising concerns from humanitarian and human rights groups over unclear policies for the newly launched quarantine program.
Hickox wrote a first-person account for the Dallas Morning News, which was posted on the paper's website Saturday. Her preliminary tests for Ebola came back negative.
"This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me," Hickox wrote of her quarantine. "I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa. I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganization, fear and, most frightening, quarantine. … The U.S. must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity."
Republican members of Congress have also called on the Obama administration to enact more travel restrictions into and out of West Africa.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told CNN's State of the Union that state officials are taking action in the absence of federal leadership.
"Governors of both parties are reacting because there isn't a trust in the leadership of this administration," Issa said.
From USATODAY.COM
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