ACLU demands Christie give legal reason for quarantining nurse who's tested negative for Ebola

Public health concerns raised over the fear of the spread of Ebola has caused at least three states: NJ, NY and IL, to institute a mandatory quarantine of potentially exposed workers. Today's post is shared fromnj.com. TRENTON — The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding that Gov. Chris Christie provide more information to the public about how the state came to the conclusion that mandatory quarantine of healthcare workers was medically necessary, saying it has “serious constitutional concerns about the state abusing its powers.” The civil liberties group’s demand came after a nurse who had been under quarantine after arriving at Newark International Airport on Friday tested negative for Ebola on Saturday. Currently, the nurse, Kaci Hickox, remains in New Jersey state custody over her objections, published in the Dallas Morning News and the objections of the international aid organization, Doctors Without Borders, for whom she’d worked in Sierra Leone. “Ebola is a public health issue and the government’s response should be driven by science and facts and not by fear. We must treat our medical workers who put...

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Cuomo and Christie Order Strict Ebola Quarantines

Today's post was shared by Steven Greenhouse and comes from www.nytimes.com

The governors of New York and New Jersey on Friday ordered quarantines for all people entering the country through two area airports if they had direct contact with Ebola patients in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The announcement signaled an immediate shift in mood, since public officials had gone to great lengths to ease public anxiety after a New York City doctor received a diagnosis of Ebola on Thursday. A few hours later, New Jersey health officials said a nurse who had recently worked with Ebola patients in Africa and landed in Newark on Friday had developed a fever and was being placed in isolation at a hospital. The nurse, who was not identified, had been quarantined earlier in the day under the new policy, even before she had symptoms. Officials did not know Friday night whether or not she had the virus. The new measures go beyond what federal guidelines require and what infectious disease experts recommend. They were also taken without consulting the city’s health department, according to a senior city official. But both governors, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, portrayed them as a necessary step. “A voluntary Ebola quarantine is not enough,” Mr. Cuomo said. “This is too serious a public health situation.” In New York City, disease investigators continued their search for anyone who had come into contact with the city’s first Ebola patient, Dr. Craig Spencer, since Tuesday morning. Three people who...

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Fear of Ebola Breeds a Terror of Physicians

Healthcare professional face serious and fatal virus infections overseas. The conditions contrated within the course of thier employment may be deemed compensble under the Workers' Compensation even though they extra-jurisdiction exposures. Today's post is share from nytimes.com

Eight youths, some armed with slingshots and machetes, stood warily alongside a rutted dirt road at an opening in the high reeds, the path to the village of Kolo Bengou. The deadly Ebola virus is believed to have infected several people in the village, and the youths were blocking the path to prevent health workers from entering. “We don’t want any visitors,” said their leader, Faya Iroundouno, 17, president of Kolo Bengou’s youth league. “We don’t want any contact with anyone.” The others nodded in agreement and fiddled with their slingshots. Singling out the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, Mr. Iroundouno continued, “Wherever those people have passed, the communities have been hit by illness.” Health workers here say they are now battling two enemies: the unprecedented Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 660 people in four countries since it was first detected in March, and fear, which has produced growing hostility toward outside help. On Friday alone, health authorities in Guinea confirmed 14 new cases of the disease. Workers and officials, blamed by panicked populations for spreading the virus, have been...

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Healthcare workers killed by Ebola’s worst outbreak ever

The global trade union federation Public Services International condemns the preventable deaths of dozens of healthcare workers, killed on the job by Ebola because they did not have the necessary tools and equipment. The current Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone is the worst ever and the first to spill widely across several countries.  Ebola has no cure, but can be diagnosed and treated. Treatment requires intensive care and close contact between the patient and the healthcare worker. Treatment can save lives, but should not kill healthcare workers! It is a tragic reminder to national and international authorities that basic public health requires adequate investment both in healthcare workers and in health infrastructure to fight disease outbreaks of this kind. Rosa Pavanelli, PSI General Secretary, warned: “We cannot accept pitiful excuses, whether from health ministers or donor agencies.  Health workers must have the tools to do their jobs.  All whose work brings them in contact with Ebola victims must have the protective gear.  Our members are dying because of unsafe working conditions, this is criminal neglect.” The chair of PSI’s West African Health Sector Unions’ Network (WAHSUN), Dr Ayuba Wabba said: “We demand that Ministries of Health, the World Health Organization and the West African Health Organization: Implement best practice guidelines for Ebola for all health facilities, including full...

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