Doesn't make sense

[Fatstrat]

A nurse cares enough about fighting/stopping Ebola that she goes to Africa to help. Then upon her return throws a fit about being quarantined for 21 days in order to keep America safe.
It seems like a conflicting attitude.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by Fatstrat

A nurse cares enough about fighting/stopping Ebola that she goes to Africa to help. Then upon her return throws a fit about being quarantined for 21 days in order to keep America safe.
It seems like a conflicting attitude.

Not a conflict if one is actually educated about the disease.

It's not about attitude, it's about the science.

[HHP]

I applaud her service but surely she, better than anyone, knows that a deadly disease with a long incubation period necessitates quarantine. Someone bringing a healthy pet dog from outside the country will need to quarantine them so I wouldn't think its unreasonable to take precautions with a disease that has killed thousands.

[K-vegas]

The way I read it - her main compliant was related to the uninformed attitudes and treatment by those that handled her on arrival. If I remember correctly she felt treated like a criminal.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by HHP

I applaud her service but surely she, better than anyone, knows that a deadly disease with a long incubation period necessitates quarantine. Someone bringing a healthy pet dog from outside the country will need to quarantine them so I wouldn't think its unreasonable to take precautions with a disease that has killed thousands.

Science needs to triumph over fear, here.

There is no active communicable nature to this disease prior to actual symptoms being present. There is zero need to confine anyone, most especially a medical professional who is likely monitoring her own temperature (etc.), prior to becoming symptomatic.

In addition to this, since the virus is present in greater quantity only as the disease progresses (and much less so, early on), a medical professional that is (again) self-monitoring is unlikely to be any risk to his/her community.

EDIT: Please read this article.

New Jersey has effectively detained a nurse in a tent with no shower, not because she’s showing symptoms of the Ebola virus, but because officials fear she might at some point show symptoms of the Ebola virus.

Christie defended the mandatory quarantine, saying the nurse was “obviously ill.” This was apparently obvious only to the governor – who has no background in medicine or public health – and was clearly not obvious to Hickox herself.

Let's get real, folks.

[Fatstrat]

I heard that she had previously exhibited a high temp. But it has subsided.
As far as science. What with the protocols, revised protocols, re-revised protocols and re-re revised protocols. Kind of hard not to think a learning curve is in place here and maybe safe is better than sorry.

[valleyguy]

All cases of ebola in the US have come from people caring for an infected ebola patient. The CDC has let those caring for ebola patients be solely responsible for monitoring themselves for the disease. Yes I know the disease is not communicable until the symptoms manifest themselves, but is it too hard to understand not trusting that someone may not volunteer to report should the symptoms start.

Makes sense to me to quarantine those that have cared for ebola patients. Seems so logical. Now we can complain about how they are treated in quarantine.....

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by Fatstrat

A nurse cares enough about fighting/stopping Ebola that she goes to Africa to help. Then upon her return throws a fit about being quarantined for 21 days in order to keep America safe.
It seems like a conflicting attitude.

"A fit" is your interpretation. "To keep America safe" is your interpretation.

Her view seems to be that the way to keep America safe is to go over there and fight the disease at its source, not to detain asymptomatic people once they return. She likely had no plans to share her bodily fluids with the general public.

"I am not, as he said 'obviously ill.' I am completely healthy and with no symptoms. And if he knew anything about Ebola he would know that asymptomatic people are not infectious."

The quarantine is designed to quell public fears, which have been inflamed by ignorance and political posturing. It is not designed to "keep America safe".

[M19]

I think the issue is not "science" but probability. What are the actual odds of "unlikely" and how comfortable is everyone with those odds? Remember, it is human nature to overestimate the negative impact event (loss avoidance tendency).

The CDC was originally very comfortable, and now less so, due to what happened in Dallas. The Governors of NJ and NY were clearly not comfortable with them and took more stringent actions, justifiable or not to others.

It is also human nature to love a train wreck (not sure what that tendency is called), which is why the media (news, social, etc.) hypes it to no end. Ebola fears "sells papers."

[Bluepoet]

Originally Posted by Fatstrat

A nurse cares enough about fighting/stopping Ebola that she goes to Africa to help. Then upon her return throws a fit about being quarantined for 21 days in order to keep America safe.
It seems like a conflicting attitude.

Quarantined for 21 days, from when? Her arrival, or, you know, since her last contact with someone who had Ebola? Where is she quarantined? In her own home, where she'd at least be comfortable? She was kept in an interrogation room, and given next to nothing to eat, for hours, after already being in a plane for many hours...welcome back, brave nurse...now, wait here, in this bubble, while we think about burning down your house, killing any pets you might have, and hmm, maybe we should just move your whole family to Ellis Island, for a month or so, too...(I know, I'm being ridiculous, right?)

Meanwhile, the election draws near...making hay while the sun still shines!

I hope she does sue, and wins. Unlawful detention, at the very least!

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Larry Pattis

Science needs to triumph over fear, here.

There is no active communicable nature to this disease prior to actual symptoms being present. There is zero need to confine anyone, most especially a medical professional who is likely monitoring her own temperature (etc.), prior to becoming symptomatic.

In addition to this, since the virus is present in greater quantity only as the disease progresses (and much less so, early on), a medical professional that is (again) self-monitoring is unlikely to be any risk to his/her community.

EDIT: Please read this article.



Let's get real, folks.

Last I heard, quarantine was a completely medical/scientific procedure designed to isolate communicable disease to prevent spread to the general population.

What part of the current situation doesn't fit that description?

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by HHP

Last I heard, quarantine was a completely medical/scientific procedure designed to isolate communicable disease to prevent spread to the general population.

What part of the current situation doesn't fit that description?

Communicable. This disease is not communicable before the patient is symptomatic.

The quarantine is clearly designed to quell fears more than prevent contamination. If we really wanted to prevent contamination, we would monitor returning health workers and only impose a quarantine if/when they became symptomatic.

The quarantine, as is, is a poorly thought out, knee jerk response designed to play to the fears of the uneducated and xenophobic.

[HHP]

Originally Posted by posternutbag

Communicable. This disease is not communicable before the patient is symptomatic.

The quarantine is clearly designed to quell fears more than prevent contamination. If we really wanted to prevent contamination, we would monitor returning health workers and only impose a quarantine if/when they became symptomatic.

The quarantine, as is, is a poorly thought out, knee jerk response designed to play to the fears of the uneducated and xenophobic.

Given the sheer numbers, I can't imagine any monitoring could be tight enough to insure the ability to take action prior to their exhibiting symptoms. The guy that was riding the subway was symptomatic and he was a doctor. That event probably led to the NY/NJ quarantine rules.

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by posternutbag

Communicable. This disease is not communicable before the patient is symptomatic.

The quarantine is clearly designed to quell fears more than prevent contamination. If we really wanted to prevent contamination, we would monitor returning health workers and only impose a quarantine if/when they became symptomatic.

The quarantine, as is, is a poorly thought out, knee jerk response designed to play to the fears of the uneducated and xenophobic.

Doh.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by valleyguy

All cases of ebola in the US have come from people caring for an infected ebola patient. The CDC has let those caring for ebola patients be solely responsible for monitoring themselves for the disease. Yes I know the disease is not communicable until the symptoms manifest themselves, but is it too hard to understand not trusting that someone may not volunteer to report should the symptoms start.

<<snip>>

You're suggesting that a trained health professional who has been working directly to understand and fight ebola would upon showing symptoms *not* self-report, and *not* seek medical help.

This is the antithesis of rational thought, IMO.

All I see (here and elsewhere) is a stubborn refusal to not understand the science and respond/react accordingly, or if the science is understood, to react to irrational fear by fueling the fire rather than to simply educate.

[harmonics101]

Isn't paradox wonderful ?



H