Back from West Africa, a U.S. Nurse Says Quarantining Medical Workers Threatens Ebola Response
The governors of New York and New Jersey are facing federal pressure to
reverse new quarantine rules on medical workers returning from West
Africa. Under the policy, arriving passengers with a risk of Ebola
exposure will be placed in a 21-day quarantine. White House officials
lobbied New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
over the weekend, saying the rules would discourage workers from joining
the Ebola response in West Africa. On Sunday night, Cuomo announced a
slight easing of the restrictions, saying the workers can be quarantined
at home. A nurse named Kaci Hickox became the first health worker
isolated under the rules after returning to New Jersey from Sierra
Leone. Hickox has been placed in an isolated tent inside a Newark
hospital despite testing negative for Ebola. She has threatened to fight
her 21-day quarantine in court, saying the order violates her
constitutional rights. We are joined by Carissa Guild, a nurse with
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who has just returned from Guinea, where
she took part in the Ebola response effort.
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