Scientists and politicians are disagreeing over whether or not to enact a 21 day quarantine - the incubation period for Ebola - on medical workers coming back to the United States from West Africa. Dr. Anthony Fauci argues that this requirement would dissuade health care workers from providing their assistance in West Africa. New Jersey governor Chris Christie responds to Dr. Fauci by saying that it will "'become a national policy sooner rather than later.'" Dr. Fauci counters Christie's point by stating that other countries will be turned away from helping people in Africa, and the epidemic will continue to "roar." Christie disagrees with Dr. Fauci on the matter. Kaci Hickox, the first forcibly quarantined nurse in New Jersey states that she doesn't feel that she's been treated with "compassion and humanity." US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, agrees with Hickox and says that the US health care workers should be treated like heroes for the work they're doing. Do you agree with Dr. Fauci, or with Chris Christie? Should the returning medical workers be quarantined, and if they are, how do you think people will react? Like Dr. Fauci predicts, or like Christie predicts? What should the US do to prevent the spread of Ebola?
Contrary to Dr. Fauci, Hickox, and Power, I believe that the 21 day quarantine should take place because it is scientifically logical. With the 21 day quarantine, the spread of Ebola would be less probable. Yes, Hickox may feel mistreated, but she, as a nurse, should understand this better than anyone: when there's a deadly disease that has the possibility of spreading, containing the possible pathogen for its incubation period is a wise precaution. If a nurse or doctor gets Ebola, he or she may transfer it to other patients, potentially in the US. This would be highly problematic. When it comes to science involving life or death, reason is more valuable than morals.
ReplyDeleteShe tested negative for Ebola. There's no reason to keep her quarantined anymore. Putting a mandatory quarantine for nearly a month after helping dying kids, women and men is just putting a negative connotation to visiting and helping the people affected. It's like telling them, "Hey, you helped these people who are being killed by this disease and you tried to prevent other people from getting it, so we're going to keep you trapped for 21 days even if you test negative for the disease that we don't want an outbreak for". Testing positive for Ebola is different, definitely, but something's wrong if we quarantine people and they start calling it a violation of their rights. This is just adding to the panic over Ebola, which really isn't necessary or too rational in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI believe if might be best to keep those returning to be quarantined for the 21 days just to be safe if they have it or not because we want to make sure they don't spread it around. Some may like the idea because they might be scared it could spread to where they live.
ReplyDeleteI think that keeping them quarantined for almost a month is a little extreme. I think that they should just be tested, and if it is negative then they are free to go. They have their own life to get back to. Plus they are coming back from helping many kids in africa and keeping them trapped is not setting a "thank you" to them
ReplyDeleteI believe that these people should be put under quarantine for at least a year.
ReplyDeleteWe don't officially know all of the qualities Ebola, and we do not know if the decease has other qualities.
I believe that people who have been diagnosed with Ebola should quarantined for at least 6 months at the minimum. We don't officially really know what Ebola symptoms are really and with that could cause more casualties. We do not know if the decease has these symptoms as well.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a 21 day quarantine is not only fair but somewhat short. If anything, it should be a longer time. As people above we said, we don't even know how dangerous ebola is yet and it's better to be safe.
ReplyDeleteI believe a 21 day quarantine is fair because we don't want to risk any other people getting infected. As we all know, Ebola is a deadly disease and I agree with Kara that 21 days is fairly short. We honestly don't really know to much about this disease and i don't think we should just allow people diagnosed, to walk free after a couple days. I believe it should be taken more seriously and people should actually be quarantined for more than 21 days.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a 21 day quarantine is fair because it would be good for the medical workers to be quarantine just in case they can transfer the disease. By doing this it could limit the spread of Ebola.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is necessary to have a 21 day quarantine. We know that ebola has an incubation period of 2-3 weeks, so to prevent the disease from spreading we can use this information. Health care workers should know that quarantines are necessary to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the people with Ebola should be quarantined for 21 days. Since we do not actually know enough about they symptoms part of this which is why i would have to agree with Alton. I think that the incubation period is a smart thing to do to prevent the disease from spreading.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that quarantining people with Ebola for twenty one days is reasonable, because let's face it: we have not had too much experience with Ebola in recent years, and the more information that we can get from these people and the more people we can keep safe is a lot better than having the amount of people with Ebola increasing. In short, we should quarantine people for twenty one days, if not more, to keep the populous safe and gain more information about the disease.
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