Hours after a health care worker in New York tested positive for Ebola, the federal government has finally considered a mandatory quarantine for health care workers returning from West Africa. These new quarantine rules are in response to the diagnosis of Craig Spencer, a health care worker who returned from Guinea on Tuesday. Even though he felt some symptoms, he still took a 3 mile jog and even rode 3 different subway lines, and was only taken to the hospital on Thursday. Spencer is currently in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. Anyone returning from West Africa would be subject to screening at John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty International airports, and public health officials at the airports would decided whether the person would need to be quarantined or not.
This is not the first time someone returning from West Africa was simply sent home. Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with Ebola, was sent home from a hospital with only antibiotics. He even had contact with dozens of elementary school children before he was finally diagnosed. Another two nurses in Texas were diagnosed with Ebola, but both were recently declared Ebola free. Craig Spencer's diagnosis was only the fourth in the United States and the first outside of Texas
Questions: Would simply closing our borders be a viable way to fight Ebola? What about closing our borders to only African countries?
The article states that health care workers would decide who would be quarantined. Is it reasonable to quarantine everybody returning from West Africa?
3 comments:
It is very logical and reasonable that people coming into the United States in order to keep Ebola from spreading. Currently, they take blood samples at airports, and not that much at that, so the test process in itself is only a minor inconvenience at most. As for the victims of this disease that interacted with others, I wouldn't really say it is THAT scary. Yes, it is a scary disease, but it has been confirmed that Ebola is not airborne. It can only be shared through body fluids. So, unless the victims somehow shared body fluids with elementary school children and subway passengers (which is easily avoidable), I believe those same people had a low chance of actually getting Ebola.
The idea of banning all flights from west africa into the U.S. is a very narrow-minded solution to a complex problem. Health workers need to be able to fly into and out of those countries to help SOLVE the outbreak and save peoples' lives. Banning flights is the equivalent of covering our ears while the outbreak only worsens.
Yes, I think there should be health test checkpoints in airports, but I'm wary of their implementation because Kaci Hickox who was exposed to the virus said that the screenings were poorly implemented, saying, "“I sat alone in the isolation tent and thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal.”
Ebola is serious, but it is not an epidemic. These extreme solutions often only make the problem worse.
While Ebola is indeed a deadly disease, it's very concerning to see all the government overreactions to this, likely stemming from the need to assuage public opinion in regards to their fear of contracting Ebola.
Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, not air, and is not infectious until symptoms develop. And those who are in danger of contracting Ebola from hosts are not random strangers who receive little direct contact from the infected person, but people close to them, like family members and doctors/nurses that care for the infected.
It's important to remember that the United States has a significantly better infrastructure for dealing with Ebola, because unlike African countries where Ebola is widespread, we have functional sewage systems and better sanitation standards. Additionally, there is a greater trust in medical professionals, as families from America are far less likely to forcibly remove relatives infected with Ebola from hospitals and let local, non-professional healers take care of them. We do not make a habit of dumping the corpses of those who have died from Ebola out on the streets.
And for reference, Nigeria (who is significantly less developed than the US and suffers from a plethora of disease outbreaks like from the currently rare polio) was able to curb an Ebola outbreak; only 18 people were infected from the initial person. They were able to do this because of an infrastructure designed to deal with infectious disease, which the US has.
I'm sure there will be more of these isolated cases, where doctors or other people traveling back from countries infected by Ebola come to the US and infect family members and doctors. However, the chances of a widespread epidemic is extremely slim, yet the government overreacts. Banning all flights to and from Africa is an extreme, unnecessary solution. Perhaps we should invest more effort into humanitarian aid to Africa and actually stopping the infection there than shutting down schools and quarantining people who aren't even going to spread Ebola because they're asymptomatic.
(Some information for this post was derived from this article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/10/19/why-americans-still-shouldnt-be-scared-of-catching-ebola/)
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