Ebola quarantines, good or bad?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Are mandatory quarantines for people that have been exposed to ebola environments a good thing?

Kaci Hickox, the now famous nurse, who decried her forced quarantine in NJ, who was subsequently sent home to Maine, after she no longer exhibited symptoms, to wait out an in-home quarantine for 21 days, says she doesn’t intend to abide by that quarantine.

I agree that the risk for someone that isn’t symptomatic infecting someone else is relatively low, but, why even take that kind of risk with this deadly virus?

I personally think we made the mistake in allowing any ebola patients back to the US. Kent Brantley, should have been treated at a US military hospital outside of the US. His successful recovery in the US was probably one of the worst things that could have happened for our own security. People that contract the disease will now take extraordinary steps to come to the US, as that is where you can be cured. They will lie about their circumstances to get to the US for treatment…see Duncan in Dallas. This puts more people, even those that didn’t sign up to personally expose themselves to this disease, at risk.

Sorry Ms. Hickox, you decided that you wanted to go and treat ebola patients in Africa. You don’t get to decide for yourself to create an environment of risk for everyone else when you decided to come home. Wait your 3 weeks and then go about your business.

2

Another consequential impact is that other patients will shy away from hospitals that treat ebola.

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/10/revenue-drops-at-presbyterian-dallas-after-ebola-cases.html/

Dallas Presbyterian hospital has seen a dramatic decline in patient admissions and ER visits since they treated Eric Duncan there. As are result, hospital revenue is down 25%.

3

Chris Christie comes across as a bully and a dick in this situation. And an uninformed one, at that.

People who lived in the same house with the only guy who has died here in the states, are not infected. She isn’t dangerous to anyone unless she is too sick to be out and about.

This disease is not as deadly here as it is in Africa anyway, so I don’t know what everyone is so fucking freaked out about.

The regular flu or the enterovirus scares me more.

And Thank you Ms. Hickox for your sacrifice.

4

…and an unapologetic one at that.

I’m not sure that “I’m going to do what I want and I don’t care what you think” is the best platform to run a presidential campaign on if you expect to win. He sounds like just another ‘Dubya Bush’ republican.

5

Governor of Maine, Paul lePage, intends to take legal action to enforce the quarantine on Ms. Hickox. Guess that makes him a bully and a dick also.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/29/idUSL1N0SO17A20141029

6

From what I understand, mandatory quarantines may be good in the short term, but could be harmful in the long term.

A mandatory quarantine for all people who may have been exposed to ebola, even if they are asymptomatic might save a few people from being exposed to ebola (but only very few, because even without mandatory quarantines, ebola isn’t spread easily). But mandatory quarantines might discourage American doctors and nurses from traveling to the affected areas in Africa to help with ebola. And without people going to help with the outbreak, the outbreak might spread further, which would be tragic and also more dangerous to the US. Also, some people might be tempted to lie about where they’d been and if they’d been exposed if a mandatory quarantine is in order.

Ebola is scary, and I can understand mandatory quarantines sounding like a good idea, but experts say that it’s not, so that’s who I’m going to believe.

7

Cite? Is there now some US strain of the virus that exploding diarrhea episodes produce less volume of infectious material?

8

If they’re not symptomatic, if their medical team says they are not a risk, back the fuck off. Wrap yourself in bubblewrap and lysol spray if you want but don’t drag the rest of us into your disease freakout.

9

It’s Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. I’d shy away from their ER because they were the ones who decided that a sick man who’d recently arrived from Liberia should be sent home. When he got sicker they finally admitted him–but he died. Then two of the nurses who treated him got sick.

That hospital needs to do some serious QA work. I’d seek care elsewhere–but not because of any Ebola danger.

10

Better infrastructure, easier to maintain personal hygiene (having lived in tents before, I can assure you that running water and flushing toilets are pure luxuries), access to hospitals capable of isolating you once you do show symptoms, etc.

11

Health care workers who have been treating ebola patients in Africa know what the symptoms are and know what the results usually are. They also voluntarily went to Africa to help fight the disease. Can anyone honestly think, having experienced the disease first-hand, that they’d deliberately ignore symptoms and wander thither and yon while infectious?

So, no, I don’t think mandatory confinement is the answer. I have no problem with requiring self-monitoring - heck, I’d self-monitor even if it wasn’t required, just out of common sense! Is that too much to expect of an educated health professional? Or am I giving them too much credit?

12

In Africa Ebola currently has about a 60% mortality rate.

In the US, of 9 people treated only 1 died.

Therefore, Ebola is less deadly in the US than in Africa. I can’t help but think that access to modern medicine and reliable facilities has something to do with that.

13

People who have been exposed to ebola and, I would think would be self-monitoring, have taken an airplane flight with the OK of the CDC, went bowling, took cab rides, went to restaurants, mingled with the unsuspecting public. They don’t appear to actually be self-monitoring. Self monitoring only works if they actually self monitor.

14

If you define “self-monitoring” as “staying at home for 21 days”, no, they aren’t.

If you define “self-monitoring” as “make sure you’re not sick before going out for a couple of hours” yes, they are.

15

Dr Spencer in NYC went out for his run after experiencing fatigue, which is a symptom of Ebola infection.

Self monitoring requires monitoring for more than just a fever.

16

This is complicated and ambiguous to debate, because she got treated shittily at so many levels. First, should she have been quarantined at all? Second, should she have been allowed to quarantine, or self-quarantine, at home instead of at a hospital? Third, the utterly shabby treatment she claims to have gotten at the hospital, in many ways. And finally, the rude and obnoxious treatment from Doctor Christie, who had already public pronounced her to be Typhoid Mary incarnate.

Well, duh. Just Chris Christie coming across surprisingly like (wait for it . . . ) Chris Christie. And now Gov. LePage too.

17

It’s been reported that the states of California, Illinois, Florida, New York, and New Jersey have authorized some type of quarantine procedure to deal with ebola and Maine has to now deal with some uncooperative asshole who doesn’t want to stay home. The lame stream media prefers to get their quotes from Chris “There is STILL no evidence that he was involved in the lane closings but the media still blames him for it” Christie instead of the other governors. What a surprise. :eek:

This ebola-in-the-U.S. is a relatively new thing. Ebola is old news. The failure of West African nations to deal with ebola is old news. The UN’s inability to deal with ebola is old news. The world health organizations inability to deal with ebola is old news.

The medical facilities in the U.S. and U.S. government agencies are facing a brand new problem and they’re working thru the glitches. How dare they not be perfect the first time they have to deal with a problem that so many others, world-wide, have failed at. :smack:

You ask, “First, should she have been quarantined at all?” My answer is yes. There was a higher than normal temp plus her recent exposure to ebola. It’s as if someone smelled smoke and pulled the fire alarm. The firemen are going to respond and investigate for smoke, fire, and other hazards. The difference is that the ebola investigation takes 21 days.

18

Self-monitoring is checking yourself for the many symptoms of ebola. The quarantine prevents the quarantined from accidentally, or deliberately, exposing the public to ebola.

It’s either better-safe-than-sorry or fuck-all-y’all.

Assuming these self-monitors have actually been taking their temps every hour, an elevated reading indicates that they have been contagious for some time during that last hour. Oops, sorry dude at the bowling alley. Sorry dudette in the elevator. You have no idea that you’ve been exposed to ebola so you’ll probably think that you just have a common cold until you’ve infected others. Just like the self-monitor who refuses to be quarantined. :frowning:

Did they experience fatigue during the time period between the last time they actually took their temp and the next time they actually took their temp? Possibly 2 or 3 hours later than they should have???

19

Yes, a rising temperature + fatigue is indicative of Ebola coming on… but there is little evidence that in the early stages someone is going to be horribly contagious.

For example: Thomas Duncan’s financee and her family, despite living with him showing definite and worsening symptoms for at least four days, never got sick.

For example: the news crew accompanying Ashoka Mukpo when he got sick with Ebola have been through their 21 day quarantine and none of them fell ill.

For example: of the 163 people Amber Vinson came into contact with when she traveled to and from Cleveland, Ohio with the first first symptoms of Ebola occurring, none have become ill.

This would seem to indicate that someone who is in the earliest days of Ebola illness is actually unlikely to infect anyone. The remote possibility can not be ruled out - hence tracking contacts and monitoring them - but experience would indicate that it is extremely unlikely. Even if you’re living in the same household, much less casual encounters at bowling alleys and such.

Amber Vinson and Nina Pham contracted Ebola after treating someone (Thomas Duncan) in the very last stages of the disease, which is when the experts have been telling us the risk of transmission is greatest. Gosh, entirely consistent with expert opinion, imagine that! People who have had contact with people like Vinson, Pham, and Mukpo in the earliest stages did not get ill. Gosh, entirely consistent with expert opinion.

Look, I get it. Ebola is a scary disease and it certainly can kill you, or leave you with lingering effects. I don’t want to get it either. However, it’s not the Zombie Plague or whatever. I think sending a third party around a couple times a day to people being monitored is a sufficient amount of observation that avoids the whole problem of the person being monitored either lying or denying a problem. If they check out they aren’t a threat to anyone. If they do show rising fever/fatigue there’s time to transport them to an appropriate facility for treatment without everyone getting into a panic.

If we MUST confine people to home for 21 days to appease the frightened herds of sheeple then stationing some sort of appropriate watch (probably cop, state trooper, or the like) to monitor both that the person is staying at home and perhaps registering visitors for later follow up if needed would be both effective and minimally intrusive. Also, probably cheaper than some of the alternatives.

I mean, heck, for decades we’ve had public health staff go to the homes of people undergoing TB treatment to make sure they take their medicine properly, and tracking of people with certain STD’s to find their contacts who might also be infected. This isn’t something entirely new in the world.

20

Do you actually understand how Ebola is transmitted? You can’t catch it from a bowling ball.