We are, for the most part. Some governors are using their authority to go beyond Federal guidelines. That doesn’t mean it’s always wise of them, but individual states have the right to apply stricter guidelines within their boundaries.
Niiiiiiiice.
I got this one on Sunday, at 11:30 at night:
“Nurse [WhyNot]?”
“Yes?”
“Are you bringing my flu shot?”
“Yes, I’m bringing it on Tuesday. I’m so sorry there was such a delay getting them, but I’ve got it n—”
“What about that other one? For that disease?”
“Umm…what disease?” I totally know where this is going…
“That disease. From Africa.”
sigh
“Ebola? There’s no shot for Ebola. You’re not going to get Ebola.” You’re homebound, dude. You never leave the house. You’re not going to get Ebola.
“Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, that’s not good! Everyone’s saying it’s real bad! Real bad!”
sigh
So tempted to give him a little IM of saline with EBOLA SHOT written in Magic Marker just to calm him down. I won’t, but I’m tempted…
At my vet clinic we used to have a little bottle of saline on the shelf with a big “A” on it. It was for when people said “can’t you just give him a shot?” We didn’t actually use it or show it to clients, it was mostly just for our own amusement.
Anyway, I think the nurse in the OP has gone too far now. She’s making a big deal about not even wanting to follow quarantine in her own home because she’s not sick, yada, yada. But the thing is she is putting herself and her family at risk now because people are crazy and I wouldn’t put it past some nutjob to decide to do something about her themselves. Go ahead and sue for your treatment but stay out of the limelight. She should just lay low until the quarantine period is up and take the vacation away from people. I’d love to do that, I hate people.
When you fight ignorance, sometimes it fights back, and it fights back dirty and nasty and violent.
That’s not necessarily a good reason to quit.
I’m not saying she should quit but, if I were her, I think I’d not go on the national news everynight and make sure people know my name and face and family members until the quarantine period was over, just for my own and my families safety. Sure, fight it legally but wait until it is absolutely safe before making my face public. Because people be cray-cray and I wouldn’t trust them.
Exactly. If somehow Ebola spreads tangential to her? She’ll be the first person vigilantes will come gunning for because folks like that love to have someone to blame. Same with her loved ones.
I felt Kaci Hickox was treated badly in NJ. But, now that she’s home and refusing to follow the voluntary quarantine guidelines that the CDC suggested? She’s crossed a line. They need to go ahead and get a court order. Do whatever is necessary to ensure that she complies.
This is why I was skeptical of blindly trusting people to do the right thing and voluntarily quarantine at home. That NY doctor lied to officials. They discovered he had been all over the city from his metro card and CC. Now this lady is being stubborn and won’t do the right thing. People can be foolish no matter what their education or training.
This isn’t some academic exercise in a medical school. People out there are frightened and very concerned. Who cares if these people returning from treating Ebola are asymptomatic until they develop a fever. Reassuring millions of people with a simple request to stay home for three weeks isn’t asking that much.
IMO everyone has a civic duty to do anything that’s discouraged “out of an abundance of caution,” which is bureaucratese for “to appease morons.”
It requires a noble and compassionate person to uproot their lives and fly across the world to treat people with Ebola. They are putting their lives at risk to do this. Planning for some voluntary quarantine time when they get back shouldn’t be a problem. They’ve seen first hand the 70% death rates at the clinics and no rational person wants to expose their families, friends and neighbors to such a infectious disease.
It never hurts to put double protection into place. Sure, these people aren’t infectious until they develop a fever. But why take any risk at all? Stay home, watch some dvd’s and chill out for three weeks. They’ve been promised pay for time lost from work. It’s just not that much to ask for them to voluntarily quarantine at home.
My wife took the pill and I used a rubber the first three years of our marriage. Double protection to make certain no babies snuck into her womb. She was finishing grad school and I was starting my career. double protection=peace of mind.
I’m beginning to agree that Nurse Hickox should voluntarily quarantine herself at home and the state of Maine should enforce it if necessary. She says she tested negative for Ebola, but the tests don’t catch the virus early. It initially resides in the spleen and liver, and as it replicates, then it eventually enters the bloodstream. So, just because her blood tested negative for the virus, it doesn’t mean she isn’t harboring it elsewhere in her body, and there is a non-zero chance she could still become ill. So there is a medical basis for her being quarantined and she would be wise to cooperate. The public health could still be threatened. Her treatment in New Jersey was abominal, but being confined to her home for three weeks seems like a small price to pay if it protects others from the disease.
I suspect that if Hickox had not been treated so badly in New Jersey she would be more willing to comply with restrictions in Maine.
I know the media is trying to paint her as a spoiled brat but the conditions she was subjected to in New Jersey were inhumane.
The other problem is that these medical people are well informed as to when they are and are not contagious. If they aren’t symptomatic they aren’t contagious, and staying home is JUST to appease the fears and prejudices of the masses. This greats on people who are smart, well educated, and used to being in charge. These folks also tend to be workaholics and highly dedicated to their jobs. Staying home for three weeks with nothing constructive to do might in fact be stressful for these folks in a way it wouldn’t be for the average joe who isn’t in love with his profession.
That said, now that media has whipped up hysteria it has to be dealt with. A 21 day home quarantine is probably the least invasive and restrictive approach.
When people act like panicky herd animals and refuse to accept rational counsel, it is the panicky herd animals, not the rational counselors, who need to be hemmed in. The hemming-in measures can range from a pat-on-the-head talk up to a line of enforcers with orders to shoot to kill if the herd stampedes, depending on the severity of the situation.
this suggestion is so obvious that it must have been made a dozen times in this thread already, and I’m not about to wade through all of it.
Someone returns from a country with Ebola active, do a blood test. If the virus is present, even in minute amounts, rule it in or out. Begin treatment, or let the person resume normal activities.
The blood test doesn’t detect infection that early.
Kaci is a nurse. She’s been trained to respect and practice evidence based medicine.the evidence says that self monitoring, not quarantine, is the appropriate precaution.
“What’s the harm” is that pandering to the politicians looking to get elected for “doing something”, indulging the fears whipped up by the media to get ratings, buckling under to the panicked hoard who is so confused they’re frothing about Ebola and still won’t get a flu shot… this would be a giant step backwards in the practice of evidence based medicine.
It is Kaci’s job, as a nurse, to promote evidence based medicine, to educate the public and individuals about the risks and benefits of alternate courses of action and appropriate precautions, and to always follow the current best practices as dictated by the evidence.
To do otherwise is to return to the days of witch hunts and imprisoning people for having birthmarks, “out of an abundance of caution.”
As I said in my previous post, blood tests don’t detect the virus early. It incubates in the liver and spleen and as it replicates itself, it migrates into the blood stream. The only way now to detect it early is to biopsy the liver and spleen, which isn’t practical for obvious reasons, as it involves invasive surgery.
I’m just saying, until we know for sure that she’s not a witch and that the ebola isn’t just due to being in congress with the Beast, we should keep her locked up and confiscate all of her property to be redistributed to everyone else. Maybe demand that she give a list of who else is also a witch just so we can make sure.
It doesn’t agree with the safety guidelines created specifically for this type of situation, however. The 21-day quarantine idea didn’t come from nowhere.
You also have an extremely large false dichotomy here. Your slippery slope sure sounds like someone panicking to me.
Please direct me to the section of the CDC guidelines that apply to this situation. The most recent, and most restrictive, ones are here: http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/exposure/monitoring-and-movement-of-persons-with-exposure.html#table-monitoring-movement
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.
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.