Health Care Worker Tests Negative For Ebola In NJ, Stays In Quarantine

[greatlaurel]

Source: NPR

"A woman who was put in isolation at Newark Liberty International Airport remains under quarantine, despite a preliminary test that found she did not have the deadly Ebola virus."

"The shift seems to have caught the health care worker by surprise. In a series of tweets Friday afternoon, Dr. Seema Yasmin of the Dallas Morning News said the woman is a nurse who was "being held against her will" at the airport where she had been returning from a month treating patients in West Africa.

Yasmin said the nurse is a friend who works with Doctors Without Borders. Relaying information from the woman, Yasmin said she was "distraught" and wasn't being given information about why she was not allowed to leave.

New Jersey dept of health will not explain why my friend, an #Ebola #nurse, is being held at Newark airport. This is no way to treat #nurses
— Dr. Seema Yasmin (@DoctorYasmin) October 24, 2014"

Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/10/25/358795868/health-care-worker-tests-negative-for-ebola-in-nj-stays-in-quarantine

---

Sounds like they were abusive of this dedicated health care worker. Wow, cannot believe they would treat this woman so poorly.

The fear mongering is working to whip people into abusing the health care workers who are the ones working to prevent the spread of this scourge. Ignorance and fear are the real menaces to our health.

[customerserviceguy]

1. Well, it's bipartisan

Both the NJ and NY governors approved the policy, and announced it jointly.

If someone wants to be a do-gooder, and maybe fix their karma (or whatever religious/philosophical reasons) and go to West Africa to treat this disease, fine, but they shouldn't be bringing it back with them to the US. Govs. Cuomo and Christie both recognize this.

[Marrah_G]

5. what the heck?

"If someone wants to be a do-gooder, and maybe fix their karma (or whatever religious/philosophical reasons) and go to West Africa to treat this disease, fine, but they shouldn't be bringing it back with them to the US"

These people are some of the best humanity has to offer. I find your post shocking.

[kestrel91316]

10. I don't find it shocking. Why that one wasn't PPR'd YEARS AGO is beyond me.

[SunSeeker]

19. +1

[customerserviceguy]

12. Yeah, they're wonderful

I'm sure the folks at the bowling alley heard all about it.

Look, just because Dr. Brantly thought that "God cured him" doesn't mean that I believe that everyone who goes to West Africa is going to be protected from contracting the disease by some invisible skyfather. Self-quarantine isn't working to dampen fear, both governors recognized that we need something more.

[karynnj]

6. Bipartisan over reaction

There is still not one proven case that occurred while exposed people were self monitoring. Note the nurses were exposed IN THE HOSPITAL to a a late stage victim.

You really don't get that these people who went (or who will go ) to Africa are doing so to help PREVENT this from being a decade long world wide problem. If it is not contained, then extinguished in Africa, it will spread and things will be worse.

The US has joined other nations in trying to stop the problem in Africa. It makes sense to keep records on who visited these countries and who helped in this effort. It makes sense to have them self monitor and have explicit instructions on what to do if they have an elevated temperature. The NYC doctor did exactly that. At most 3 people were exposed to him significantly once he became the least bit contagious. (Consider 48 people had contact with Duncan at a far more advanced period and NONE of them developed the disease.)

This woman is essentially being held against her will (jailed for all intents and purposes) to quell the fear - likely unjustified - of others.

[candelista]

34. "Still not one proven case...."?

You remind me of the proverbial "optimist" who jumps off a skyscraper, and every ten floors, yells up to his friends that he is doing fine!

[karynnj]

61. Very poor analogy

The fact is that there have been people in that situation and they did not end up infected. In addition, the MEDICAL advise indicates when people are infected.

Not surprising to find you against Obama on this as well as almost everything else.

Not to mention, look closely at the NY and NJ governors' instructions. They will quarantine everyone from those countries who SAYS that they have had any contact with people ill with ebola. So, imagine a hypothetical Liberian businessman with business to conduct in the US - who DID visit an ill relative who later died. What is his answer? This person - not the doctors who can be relied on to competently monitor their temperature and call if they get symptoms - is the greater risk. Yet, they are the ones who are likely NOT to be the problem.

[kestrel91316]

11. Being a do-gooder doesn't have a lot to do with it. It is MEDICAL COMMON SENSE.

We can either fight it over there.................or we will be forced to fight it over here.

You seem to not have the slightest grasp of epidemiology in the modern era. It can be summed up in a single sentence, though: No man is an island.

[customerserviceguy]

13. And the thing that those in charge don't understand is

There's not enough time between when Ebola hit the papers in early August and the election three months later to explain all of the philosophy behind that to the mushy middle, who vote out of fear rather than reason.

Yes, we need to fight it over there. And going to West Africa to do it is not some weekend warrior thing that you get to do for a short time, then come back here to the acclaim of the people. Health workers going there have a responsibility to the people they come back to, and self-quarantine just isn't cutting it.

[kestrel91316]

15. Self-quarantine works JUST FINE. You need to either name the person or persons

who have contracted Ebola from this physician as a result of his presence in NY while NOT ILL or stop lying.

Ebola patients are incapable of spreading the disease before they are ill. This is a medical fact, and one of which you are still inexplicably unaware, or in complete denial about.

Here's the deal: if it COULD be spread before signs of illness occurred, there would be hundreds, if not thousands, of cases by now where no one could figure out how they got the disease. Same as if it could be spread via respiratory aerosol.

The epidemiological data DO NOT LIE.

[customerserviceguy]

16. Talk all the facts you want

We'll see in ten days whether facts or fear determine the outcome of the election.

Can you at least agree with me that there are mixed messages being sent?

"Oh, by the way, you were within fifty feet of an Ebola patient, whose apartment had to be sanitized, and everything porous needed to be removed from and incinerated, and every place this person went to was swabbed down with bleach, but you really can't catch the disease just from being around him/her, so don't worry about anything."

Failing to grasp the optics of that is what I fault the President and his advisors for.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. Failure to realise that some things are more important than American elections

is what I fault you for.

My cousin is going out next week to Sierra Leone as a volunteer for a charity that does real-time mapping of the needs of disaster-hit countries. To you, he's a "do-gooder" who might 'want to fix his karma'. To me he's a selfless example to us all, and worth much, much more than people who can't see beyond electoral calculation and fear. You're too blind to be able to talk about 'optics'.

[customerserviceguy]

22. OK, enjoy your Rethuglican Senate

We can fight Ebola AND reassure the American people, but only if we're sensitive to the needs of both things.

I wish all the very best to your cousin, and hope that he remains safe, and that all of you who greet him on his return will be safe, as well. However, I don't believe that his good intentions will be sufficient to guarantee that safety.

[uppityperson]

24. Thank your cousin for doing this, what a wonderful thing to help with.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. Thank you - I will

[Scairp]

31. You are ignorant

Funny how those who lived with the first patient, Duncan, didn't get the virus and he WAS infectious, so maybe you are talking out of your ass. Did it ever occur to you that they overreacted?

[customerserviceguy]

36. I have no idea why they didn't get Ebola

I'm glad it didn't happen, and I maintain that if it had ended solely with him, that this Ebola crisis in the media would have subsided by now. I don't remember a mass panic when Dr. Brantly and Nurse Writebol came back to the US, fully covered up for the safety of all.

But, it did spread, and the coverage of its contraction by what should have been fully protected nurses led to an alarm that is gripping the mushy middle like crazy. If that hadn't happened, even the story about Dr. Spencer would have been low-key, as he isolated himself from the moment he picked up a slight rise in his temperature.

You can't one one hand, tell people they simply can't catch this disease easily, and on the other hand, be out there notifying everyone who's been within fifty feet of an infected person, all while news crews are filming every cubic inch of the places where those people have been being swabbbed down by health crews in hazmat suits.

Which do you think has the greater impact on the public, what the authorities say, or what they do?

[uppityperson]

37. So your complaint now is the authorities over reacting to the public's paranoia? Or news media

coverage of breathless "omg, he stepped here, right here", while filming the ground and not mentioning that he was NOT contagious so no one should worry and while continuing to lie about his temperature when he called the authorities?

[customerserviceguy]

39. Either quarantine effectively

or stop notifying and swabbing. Put actions and words into alignment with each other.

When you give people mixed messages, they tend to believe the one that's the most pessimistic, and you cast doubt on the messenger who seems to be delivering the doublespeak.

[uppityperson]

42. To clarify, you are ok with the authorities stopping media from over reacting reporting, and them to

not over react in notifying neighbors, and "swabbing" whatever that means.

You now understand that this virus is difficult to catch unless you are in contact with bodily discharges of a contagious person, am I right? That is progress, good for you.

[customerserviceguy]

46. I'm not saying anything about authorities interferring with the press

I'm just saying, if nobody's going to catch this disease from casual contact, then stop the behaviors that are in conflict with that view.

As for "swabbing", here's what I'm talking about:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/cleaning-ebola-new-york_n_6044798.html

What's being said doesn't match up with what's being done, does it? Is it words or actions that are fueling the Ebola scare?

[uppityperson]

52. Are you ok with the authorities not doing that? Do you now understand

that this virus is difficult to catch unless you are in contact with bodily discharges of a contagious person?

[customerserviceguy]

71. Again, you're just not seeing my point

Actions and words on this are not in synch. People hear the soothing words, then they watch film at 11 about how everything a suspected Ebola carrier ever touched is wiped down or incinerated.

If we ever had a really easy-to-catch disease epidemic, do you think most people would believe what the government had to say about it?

[uppityperson]

72. "If we ever had a really easy-to-catch disease epidemic"? We do. Every year. That kills thousands.

And unfortunately too many do not believe what the gvt says about it, preferring to believe vaccines contain poison, cause autism or misunderstanding what disease the easily obtainable and inexpensive vaccine protects against.

[Scairp]

60. You have no idea?

You seem to know everything else about transmission of Ebola, and YOU can't say why his family didn't get it? Allow me to enlighten you: they didn't get it because without exception it is transmitted when the patient is in the last stage of the illness. That is when they start bleeding, which is really awful and extremely contagious. Which is why healthcare workers are the first to be infected and die from this virus. They are there till the bitter end for those poor people, plus they are disposing of the dead which is the most risky thing of all. It isn't easy to catch, otherwise and to state the obvious, there would be many, many cases by now from one patient.

[A Simple Game]

20. You are right about one thing, someone needs to fix their karma. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

23. Who knows what motivates people to do virtuous things?

I've met people who became volunteer firefighters in small towns, just so they could wear clothing that identified themselves as such everywhere they went. Of course, there are the Mother Teresas out there, too.

In any case, all the good intentions in the world, and all the religious/philosophical beliefs behind them are not going to protect anyone from catching a disease. Just because a reporter or an aid worker wants to go to Syria to help the people there doesn't mean his head won't be cut off, either.

[Scairp]

28. Nice

Maybe, just maybe, these people go there because they feel it's their JOB. And they get to come home to shitty treatment. And no-nothings spouting bullshit.

[customerserviceguy]

33. See my post #14

I certainly don't favor shitty treatment for people returning from trying to treat Ebola in West Africa. But I also don't believe that their good intentions protect them or us from bringing the disease back.

I remember thirty years ago something along the lines of "If straight people got HIV/AIDS, then they'd find cures and vaccines for it." The last thing we need is to have something along those lines get started with Ebola.

[candelista]

32. +1

[PatrynXX]

67. define bipartisan

in terms on Conservative vs Progressive. I know nothing about the one in Illinois . Cuomo seems more Conservative than Bloomberg and I can't tell Cuomo apart from Christie

[mopinko]

2. sounds like there needs to be a process for these workers to come back.

maybe 3-5 days without patient contact before return, to at least get a jump on the process.
i do feel for these good folks. and i am sure they have no desire to bring this back with them.
they shouldnt be treated like criminals, tho.

[oldandhappy]

3. Hope NY and NJ have budgets for housing and feeding each person for 21 days.

ha ha

[kestrel91316]

9. And for dealing with the subsequent lawsuits.

Public health professionals were not consulted on this policy and are appalled at it. It lacks any hint of medical justification.

[Marrah_G]

4. Good way to discourage more people from going to help.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. They shouldn't mistreat people who are quarantined because it will

encourage others to lie about their whereabouts.

[kestrel91316]

8. Awesome. All medical volunteers returning from West Africa are sentenced to 3 weeks in solitary

confinement without due process.

We'll be lucky is she doesn't leave her profession entirely after this sort of purposeless ABUSE.

[customerserviceguy]

14. If the Western nations pooled their resources

they could buy some defunct resort on an island, and turn it into three weeks of R & R.

[SunSeeker]

17. Where? Jamaica banned people from West Africa; Mexico & Belize blocked that lab worker's ship.

And if they really do develop Ebola on this island, we still have to bring them into our country to treat them.

I thought the days of leper colonies were behind us...

[customerserviceguy]

18. Poor comparison

Leper colonies were forever, quarantine is just three weeks.

I'll admit, it might be challenging to find such an island, but we managed to do it to locate airbases during WWII.

[uppityperson]

27. You want each person to be quarantined. So each person gets their own island?

[customerserviceguy]

30. At this point

they get their own apartment or home, if they self-quarantine. That involves notifying neighbors, police and fire departments, etc.

What I'm proposing would manage all of that in a place away from the Western nations.

[uppityperson]

25. But each person will need their own island since they can not be in contact with anyone

Person 1 needs to be in solitary confinement to not infect person 2, etc etc. According to what you are proposing that is.

[customerserviceguy]

29. The resort would have to be radically modified, of course

And there is nothing that says that people couldn't communicate electronically. What I'm envisioning is something that would provide three weeks of R & R for a person coming back from a difficult task, which has the side benefits of reassuring the people in the nations that they return to that they're OK, and that minimizes the amount of resources that stay in Western nations, so they can be delivered to the affected areas.

It's not a prison sentence, it's just meant to be a place to be until 100% safety can be guaranteed. Putting it in a place that someone figured was desirable when the resort was built would be an extra measure to make it less like lockdown, and more like a reward for a job well done.

It would have to cost a lot less than both NYC and Dallas have spent on this so far.

[uppityperson]

35. There is no 100% safety in anything and yes, involuntary confinement even in a gilded cage IS

imprisonment.

You want a higher class of Gitmo for American citizens who volunteer to help treat and contain the virus you fear is spread by simple contact with asymptomatic people, contrary to all expert opinions.

You want to "reward" health care providers by involuntarily confining them for no reason beyond paranoia until there is 100% safety guaranteed.

Gotcha.

[customerserviceguy]

38. Yes, without your histrionics

That's exactly what I want.

Because when it gets down to it, the average American swing voter's philosophy can be summed up thusly:

"Keep your diseases way overseases."

No, not an intelligent response, but I don't expect one from people who don't decide until just before an election as to whether a Democratic candidate or a Rethuglican candidate will best protect them from harm. Treating Ebola requires medical science, treating Ebola fear requires social science. And that includes political science.

[uppityperson]

40. "reward" health care providers in a high class Gitmo until there is 100% safety.

You are so afraid of catching a virus from someone who is not contagious, you want to incarcerate people as a "reward".

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

Quoting you "Keep your diseases way overseases."

You are incredible.

[pnwmom]

43. DWB was already telling them to not work for 21 days. And she would have been confined

to home, not a hospital, if she had a home in NJ. This quarantine just mandates the DWB's own policy,and extends it to personal activities.

There isn't anything new about public health quarantines. It's not incarceration, and it's not punishment. I'm sure they are doing what they can to keep her comfortable.

[uppityperson]

47. Is this today's meme? They are keeping her comfortable so it's ok to involuntarily confine someone

whose lab test came back NEGATIVE PROVING she is NOT contagious?

[pnwmom]

50. That lab test doesn't prove she isn't incubating the virus. It only proved that she doesn't have

sufficient levels to register positive on that day's test. Otherwise, we could give every DWB returnee a one time blood test and be done with it.

Unfortunately, she won't be in the clear till the 21 day period is over.

[customerserviceguy]

51. Thank you

You've always been a voice of reason, even if I have disagreed with you on relatively trivial matters.

Anything wrong with my basic idea of having a place where quarantine can be done outside of the US and Europe, and resources concentrated there, rather than using apartments and houses in those places as the holding vessel for potential Ebola infections?

If nothing else, there would be a lot less Ebola news, and the panic could begin to subside.

[pnwmom]

55. I think US residents should be entitled to come back home

whether they have Ebola or not. But I don't think it's unreasonable for people who have known Ebola exposure to be quarantined for the three week incubation period.

[customerserviceguy]

56. Absolutely

they should come back home. And three weeks of R & R on an island, with the opportunity to write about their experiences, and even webcam the folks back home (and news media) would reassure their neighbors, their families, and their communities that the time they spend over there has done more good than harm.

We applaud people who do noble and courageous things, but we want them to keep the rest of us safe, too. Just because they went over for salutory reasons doesn't keep them or us from getting and spreading the very thing that they went over to combat.

[pnwmom]

45. My neighbors who were quarantined because of Scarlet Fever didn't consider themselves

imprisoned. They knew the disease was life-threatening. Luckily, none of their other children or their friends got it.

Quarantines were a relatively common thing in the era before antibiotics and vaccines.

[uppityperson]

49. This woman tested negative, is not contagious, does consider it involuntary. Strep throat is very

contagious. Not having ebola, she is NOT contagious.

Are you seriously comparing a contagious bacteria to someone who does not have ebola?

[pnwmom]

58. That test represents her status at the moment. She could still develop Ebola during the 21 day

incubation period. That is why she's being quarantined.

If that test meant she would NEVER develop Ebola,then they could simply test all returnees at the airport. But you know as well as I do that that's not how that test works. There has to be a certain viral load for the test to register positive. She might not have enough viral load right now, but she won't be in the clear till the 21 day period is over.

[uppityperson]

59. She should be released for self monitoring. Having worked with ebola, she, like Dr Spencer, will

be very aware of monitoring themselves and get help as soon as they think they may be coming down with it. She is HIGHLY motivated to do so and should be released asap.

For those who are paranoid about where she might go before she becomes contagious, you need to figure out some way past that fear.

[greatlaurel]

66. Thanks for being a voice of reason.

I am absolutely shocked at the spiteful, callous and even hateful attitudes toward the health care workers who are trying to bring this outbreak to an end. The destruction of science education in the US is has allowed the spread of irrational panic and fear.

Ignorance and selfishness are the enemies of public health.

[pnwmom]

41. DWB was already telling them not to work for three weeks. This mandates that,

and also restricts their personal activities. (If she were a NJ resident she would have been confined her home.)

I think it's better to quarantine a single exposed person for the three weeks than to take a chance on that person having Ebola and then having to do contact-tracing and quarantining even more people in the long run.

But opinions will differ.

By the way, quarantines have long history in public health. This really is nothing new, and is a matter of long-settled law.

[uppityperson]

44. Quarantines of easily transmissible viruses make sense. Ones that are difficult do not.

This reminds me of leper colonies. Unneeded, unnecessary, unwarranted, but hey, the public felt better.

[pnwmom]

48. This isn't AIDS. It can be transmitted by the simple act of throwing up.

I think this decision is reasonable.

[uppityperson]

54. This isn't strep throat transmitted by the simple act of breathing. Avoid contact with

vomit and feces. Obviously you think involuntarily confining someone who has proven they are not contagious is ok.

Done with you. Again.

[pnwmom]

57. How do you avoid contact with vomit? You don't know when the person next to you

is suddenly going to throw up. It happens.

I can remember, as kid, walking into a store and suddenly throwing up, all over the place. And THEN I suddenly felt sick.It was my first symptom of whatever was wrong with me. I didn't know it was going to happen,my mother didn't know, and nobody in the store near me knew either.

Fun.

[Cal Carpenter]

53. She tested negative and is being held against her will

and not being given much information.

The medical community does not think this is necessary.

And people are really okay with this?

[greatlaurel]

64. No, I am not OK with this at all.

Do you have any ideas what we can do to protest this outrage against Kaci Hickox? Her account makes it clear this was a ridiculous overreaction by Cuomo and Christie.

[aceofblades]

62. Here is the nurse's story in her own words

http://www.dallasnews.com/ebola/headlines/20141025-uta-grad-isolated-at-new-jersey-hospital-as-part-of-ebola-quarantine.ece

Everyone can draw there own conclusions to her treatment.
Some excerpts:

" I told him that I have traveled from Sierra Leone and he replied, a little less enthusiastically: “No problem. They are probably going to ask you a few questions.”


"One after another, people asked me questions. Some introduced themselves, some didn’t. One man who must have been an immigration officer because he was wearing a weapon belt that I could see protruding from his white coveralls barked questions at me as if I was a criminal"

"I was tired, hungry and confused, but I tried to remain calm. My temperature was taken using a forehead scanner and it read a temperature of 98. I was feeling physically healthy but emotionally exhausted.

"Three hours passed. No one seemed to be in charge. No one would tell me what was going on or what would happen to me."

"After my temperature was recorded as 98.6 on the oral thermometer, the doctor decided to see what the forehead scanner records. It read 101. The doctor felts my neck and looked at the temperature again. “There’s no way you have a fever,” he said. “Your face is just flushed. My blood was taken and tested for Ebola. It came back negative."

"I sat alone in the isolation tent and thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?"

Also more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/nyregion/nurse-in-newark-tests-negative-for-ebola.html

[greatlaurel]

63. What a terrible way to treat someone. My heavens, this is absolutely appalling.

This woman is being abused by Christie and Cuoma and their minions for their short sighted and venal ambitions.

Thank you, aceofblades, for the link to Kaci Hickox's account of her treatment. Everyone involved should apologize to her for this fiasco.

[greatlaurel]

65. You should post this account as an OP, this should not get lost in this thread.

Thank you for the link.

[blackspade]

68. Guilty until innocent ......

Despicable.

[greatlaurel]

69. kestrel91316 has an OP about the hysteria whipped up by the rightwingers in the early days of AIDs.

Everyone should read this to learn or be reminded about how people were manipulated into hysteria for political gain against "those people" in the early days of AIDS/HIV. It was disgraceful then and it is disgraceful now.

Here is the link:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025715324

Here is part of her succinct and insightful analysis:

"This mandatory solitary confinement of asymptomatic medical personnel returning from West Africa for 21 days is criminal. It has no medical rationale at all, and is clearly designed to punish those who dare to defy RW doctrine which says "every man for himself" and "let him die" and "pull yourself up by your own fucking bootstraps"." (bold for emphasis)

Thanks Kestrel for great analysis and a good reminder about what happens when people allow themselves to be manipulated by fear and ignorance.

[kestrel91316]

70. Thank you for your kind comments.