# Mandatory Ebola Quarantine, Can't this be done a bit more intelligently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 27, 2014, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629 "2014-10-27T03:22:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/61 "2014-10-31T14:24:34Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > To quarantine a nurse who has just come back from serving in West Africa, putting her life at risk, the city should have gotten her a suite at a hotel, and told her “well, we are going to quarantine you, but whatever you want, call and we’ll try and get it. You just had a long flight, get some sleep , take a bath or shower, take your temperature twice a day and we will talk about the next steps tomorrow. Now, do you want anything special for dinner? Can we get you a book or a movie? Can we fly a friend or family down?” > > Instead, she got a chair and when she was hungry, she was given a granola bar. Exactly this. There’s no reason to put anyone into a jail-like structure if they do need to be quarantined. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/62 "2014-10-31T14:39:38Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > okay, the immediate blood test is not practical…how long before an infection can be detected with a blood test? If someone has any chance of having been exposed to the virus, they can’t just be told to ‘call us if you start to feel sick’. Some degree of isolation is required. The quickest possible way to flag someone for isolation as opposed to monitoring is by taking their temperature. Please refer to the CDC guidelines linked upthread. The main trigger is a fever in excess of 100.4 F or 38 C. Anyone with more than that needs to be isolated and further evaluated. That really is going to be the earliest sign in nearly all cases. Other symptoms that may appear at the same time include things like _severe_ headache, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or unexplained bruising or bleeding. Several people have mentioned the onset of sudden, crushing fatigue or headache at the same time their fever started but it really does seem that the fever is the first initial symptom. Hence, a lot of temperature taking. The guidelines also state that being in contact with a person _in the EARLY stages_ of symptoms is considered low risk. You are not likely to get the disease from such a person because they are shedding little or nor virus at that point. You should still be monitored for several weeks because the risk is not zero, but it’s pretty damn close. Seems what we need to do is keep track of who needs their temperature taken a couple times a day for three weeks, and part of that is discouraging certain types of travel, but only those who actually proceed to fever need to actually be isolated. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/63 "2014-10-31T17:29:03Z")
Thank goodness, the judge was rational: > [@](#): > > Kaci Hickox is free to travel unrestricted after a Maine judge on Friday rejected the state’s bid to limit her movements as a medical worker who has treated Ebola patients. > > Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere ruled Hickox must continue daily monitoring and coordinate travel with state health officials to ensure continuity of monitoring. The judge said there’s no need to restrict her movements because she’s not infectious because she’s showing no symptoms. > > With the judge’s ruling, a state police cruiser parked outside her home drove away. [http://bigstory.ap.org/article/80060d5318a5480f8bd8bef6a2c0bb00/life-goes-nurse-standoff-over-ebola](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/80060d5318a5480f8bd8bef6a2c0bb00/life-goes-nurse-standoff-over-ebola) ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/64 "2014-10-31T18:46:28Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > To quarantine a nurse who has just come back from serving in West Africa, putting her life at risk, the city should have gotten her a suite at a hotel,… Which hotel did you wish to burden with a possible ebola patient? How should the other guests feel about being in a hotel with an ebola patient? How many current and future guests would cancel their reservations? How would you compensate the hotel for it’s loss of business? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/65 "2014-10-31T18:51:31Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > To quarantine a nurse who has just come back from serving in West Africa, putting her life at risk, the city should have gotten her a suite at a hotel, and told her “well, we are going to quarantine you, but whatever you want, call and we’ll try and get it. You just had a long flight, get some sleep , take a bath or shower, take your temperature twice a day and we will talk about the next steps tomorrow. Now, do you want anything special for dinner? Can we get you a book or a movie? Can we fly a friend or family down?” > > Instead, she got a chair and when she was hungry, she was given a granola bar. Gov. Christie says she also got some fast food. They know how to treat tourists right in N.J. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/66 "2014-10-31T22:45:58Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Which hotel did you wish to burden with a possible ebola patient? How should the other guests feel about being in a hotel with an ebola patient? How many current and future guests would cancel their reservations? How would you compensate the hotel for it’s loss of business? Or, you know, we could just _put her in her own home_ which seems to work well for other people and doesn’t involve “loss of business” for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/67 "2014-11-01T14:09:07Z")
While I think a nurse should be honest and can be trusted to take her own temp, etc., I do not trust the general public to be honest about their activities and possible exposures when returning from an Ebola area. There have to be dozens of ways that a person can be unknowingly exposed to a virus shedder while in those countries. So far, we seem to be okay with just asking people to report their health if it goes south. Will that be enough? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/68 "2014-11-01T15:03:27Z")
> [@crucible](#): > > While I think a nurse should be honest and can be trusted to take her own temp, etc., I do not trust the general public to be honest about their activities and possible exposures when returning from an Ebola area. There have to be dozens of ways that a person can be unknowingly exposed to a virus shedder while in those countries. So far, we seem to be okay with just asking people to report their health if it goes south. Will that be enough? So far, it has. 40 years of ebola, less than a handful of cases on US soil…that’s a pretty good track record. We all knew it was going to make it here at some point; the fact that it took 4 decades is a good indicator that it’s not all that contagious. If anything, I see my ER and Urgent Care nurse friends bracing for the upcoming season of _overreporting_, similar to what we saw the year SARS went around (and by “went around,” I mostly mean, “went around the news reports in far greater proportion than around the patient population”), or the Bird Flu year, or the Swine fly/H1N1 years… the ERs were packed with people with colds, terrified they had whatever “that disease” was they saw on the news, and saying “better safe than sorry, right?” If there’s one thing the media hype is good at, it’s getting people so “aware” of medical issues that they think every sneeze is a death sentence. Um…good job? Could we maybe use that power of persuasion to get people to stop eating fast food 20 times a week and exercise every day? Doesn’t seem to be as effective for getting people to \*do \*something to improve their baseline health, only for getting them in the doors of overcrowded ERs, demanding someone else fix their imaginary problems. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/69 "2014-11-01T15:22:20Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Which hotel did you wish to burden with a possible ebola patient? How should the other guests feel about being in a hotel with an ebola patient? How many current and future guests would cancel their reservations? How would you compensate the hotel for it’s loss of business? Then how about a guest room in the governors mansion? The woman is a hero who just spent time living under primitive conditions and risking her life to save others. She is getting off a long plane ride (where, frankly, if she was THAT contagious that they immediately needed to isolate her with her own camp toilet, they needed to quarantine the whole plane - it isn’t like she would have suddenly started shedding massive amounts of virus on the gangway). Me, I wouldn’t do any more than what the CDC recommends - get her to her own home, where she probably wants to be, and have her self monitor. She’s probably pretty eager to get medical attention quickly if she gets a fever. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/70 "2014-11-03T15:47:01Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Then how about a guest room in the governors mansion? > > The woman is a hero who just spent time living under primitive conditions and risking her life to save others… (post shortened) Now you’re getting into the swing of things. The 1st plan, the democratic republic confiscation of a privately owned hotel suite would create more problems than it solves but it was an attempt to do something. The 2nd plan at least uses publicly owned property. I know the Illinois Governor has a mansion but I’m not sure if the states of Florida, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, or North Carolina have Governor mansions? Some of the states with some of their different quarantine rules - _States Create a Patchwork of Quarantine Rules_ > **[Valley News](https://www.vnews.com/)** > > The Valley News is the daily newspaper and website of the Upper Valley, serving communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. What are the possible downsides to being isolated with a contagious disease at a governor’s mansion? There is no emergency room with its associated equipment or labs. There are no nurses or doctors or bio-hazard clean up crews. All of these things could be brought in, of course. 21 days being housed and fed by the state taxpayers is a small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that something is being done to contain a deadly virus. What’s plan 3 gonna be? May I suggest that a temporary isolation containment area be erected close to a hospital? Maybe a tent with it’s own potty? It would be close to hospital labs and the emergency room. And there would be a trained staff available. As you say, Hickox has just spent time living under primitive conditions. A private tent with her own toilet was probably a step up from where she had just volunteered to live. I heard this morning that Kaci “I really don’t care if people are concerned or scared that I might be contagious” Hickox has recently apologized for scaring the crap out of people. If true, it means she finally realizes that all of the conflicting stories from the WH, CDC, random medical experts, and news media have people wondering if anyone is actually in-charge and are they, the public, actually safe. There are complaints that politicians are making medical decisions. That happens to be the elected representatives job - making decisions about issues that effect the public. It’s said Governors shouldn’t be making these decisions but the Obama administration selected a POLITICAL spin doctor as ebola czar to run the ebola effort??? “That” politician shouldn’t be making medical decisions but it’s OK that a different politician is making medical decisions??? Where is Obama’s political spin doctor and ebola czar, Ron Klain? Why hasn’t he made an appearance to calm the publics concerns and fears? Is it because he wasn’t hired to coordinate the ebola effort but to keep the ebola debacle from tainting Democrat candidates for office or driving Obama’s poll numbers any lower? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/71 "2014-11-03T17:13:18Z")
Good grief, you like being worked up in a tizzy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/72 "2014-11-03T17:28:12Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Then how about a guest room in the governors mansion? In Christie’s bed. Let the dumbass and his wife stay in a hotel. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/73 "2014-11-03T17:53:51Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Good grief, you like being worked up in a tizzy. “Worked up in a tizzy”? I’m not sure what that means? Are you hitting on me? I’m not interested, but thanks for asking. Did you have anything to add to the ongoing conversation or are you just passing thru? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/74 "2014-11-03T18:47:36Z")
Perhaps you should spend a little less time asking questions and do a bit more reading, then. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/75 "2014-11-03T18:52:16Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > To quarantine a nurse who has just come back from serving in West Africa, putting her life at risk, the city should have gotten her a suite at a hotel, and told her “well, we are going to quarantine you, but whatever you want, call and we’ll try and get it. You just had a long flight, get some sleep , take a bath or shower, take your temperature twice a day and we will talk about the next steps tomorrow. Now, do you want anything special for dinner? Can we get you a book or a movie? Can we fly a friend or family down?” > > Instead, she got a chair and when she was hungry, she was given a granola bar. Good point. The funding shouldn’t be unlimited, so it should be fair to refuse to provide the luxury penthouse with surround-sound theater and private Olympic gym unless the patient will pay for it themselves, but certainly a room at the Motel 6 on Podunk Road West would be reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/76 "2014-11-03T22:38:16Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Perhaps you should spend a little less time asking questions and do a bit more reading, then. Of course, why didn’t that occur to me, questions are a bad thing. :smack: Would you mind writing something thread related that I could read? Please? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/77 "2014-11-04T12:59:59Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > What’s plan 3 gonna be? May I suggest that a temporary isolation containment area be erected close to a hospital? Maybe a tent with it’s own potty? It would be close to hospital labs and the emergency room. And there would be a trained staff available. On this note, tents can be comfortable if one is willing to spend enough on them. I spent six months living in a tent that had lights, electricity, HVAC, and wireless Internet. But all that costs. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/78 "2014-11-04T14:01:05Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Of course, why didn’t that occur to me, questions are a bad thing. :smack: > > Would you mind writing something thread related that I could read? Please? There’s nothing wrong with questions as long as they spring from a desire to learn or an understanding of the discussion up to now. Stupid crap about which states have governor’s mansions and the ebola czar do not qualify. Mandatory ebola quarantines could be done quite intelligently. Dropping non-infectious people in tents on hospital lawns due to pressure from the governor is pretty much admitting out of the gate that you’re gonna do it stupidly. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/79 "2014-11-04T14:01:59Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > On this note, tents can be comfortable if one is willing to spend enough on them. I spent six months living in a tent that had lights, electricity, HVAC, and wireless Internet. But all that costs. I’m only guessing here, but it seems tents would be more difficult (read: expensive) to decontaminate, too, compared to homes, hotel rooms or hospital rooms. Most topical sanitizers work best on hard surfaces, don’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629/80 "2014-11-04T14:06:16Z")
I imagine the idea was that the tent would be destroyed after the waiting period was over. If you’re going to go to the bother of decontaminating, why not just use a regular room? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mandatory-ebola-quarantine-cant-this-be-done-a-bit-more-intelligently/702629.md?page=5)