RN Detained and Quarantined As Ebola Hysteria Reaches a New Low

[MissyWrite]

NJ and NY have instituted a policy of placing health workers into mandatory 21-day quarantine upon their return from West Africa if they came into contact with Ebola patients.

This new policy is a reaction to unfounded public hysteria surrounding Dr. Craig Spencer's return to NYC after working with Doctors Without Borders, and his subsequent diagnosis of Ebola, after he had taken the subway and gone bowling. People fear Ebola can be spread through casual contact with an asymptomatic person, even though public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that isn't the case.

Is this policy based on the facts about Ebola transmission? Is it based on science? No, it's not, and in fact no one is saying that it is:

"Voluntary quarantine is almost an oxymoron," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We've seen what happens. ... You ride a subway. You ride a bus. You could infect hundreds and hundreds of people."

"Public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that there's very little chance that a random person will get Ebola, unless they are in very close contact -- close enough to share bodily fluids -- with someone who has it.

Still, there's also a sense that authorities have to do something because of Americans' fears -- rational or not -- and belief that the country is better off being safe than sorry.

Osterholm says, "You want to try to eliminate not just real risk, but perceived risk."

Mike Osterholm is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota.

Because of this irrational "perceived" risk, Kaci Hickox, 33, an RN who has been caring for Ebola patients while on assignment with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, was detained at the airport, interrogated for hours, and placed in mandatory quarantine at a New Jersey hospital upon her return to the U.S. on Friday.

She has tested negative in a preliminary test for Ebola, and she does not have a fever, but the hospital says she will remain under mandatory quarantine for 21 days. She is not allowed to leave the hospital, unless officials reconsider that decision.

Here are some excerpts from her experience so far:

I am a nurse who has just returned to the U.S. after working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone - an Ebola-affected country. I have been quarantined in New Jersey. This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me...

I arrived at the Newark Liberty International Airport around 1 p.m. on Friday, after a grueling two-day journey from Sierra Leone. I walked up to the immigration official...

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."...

He put on gloves and a mask and called someone. Then he escorted me to the quarantine office a few yards away. I was told to sit down. Everyone that came out of the offices was hurrying from room to room in white protective coveralls, gloves, masks, and a disposable face shield.

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.

Two other officials asked about my work in Sierra Leone. One of them was from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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.

I called my family to let them know that I was OK. I was hungry and thirsty and asked for something to eat and drink. I was given a granola bar and some water. I wondered what I had done wrong.

Four hours after I landed at the airport, an official approached me with a forehead scanner. My cheeks were flushed, I was upset at being held with no explanation. The scanner recorded my temperature as 101. The female officer looked smug. "You have a fever now," she said. I explained that an oral thermometer would be more accurate and that the forehead scanner was recording an elevated temperature because I was flushed and upset.

I was left alone in the room for another three hours. At around 7 p.m., I was told that I must go to a local hospital. I asked for the name and address of the facility. I realized that information was only shared with me if I asked.

Eight police cars escorted me to the University Hospital in Newark. Sirens blared, lights flashed. Again, I wondered what I had done wrong.

At the hospital, I was escorted to a tent that sat outside of the building. The infectious disease and emergency department doctors took my temperature and other vitals and looked puzzled. "Your temperature is 98.6," they said. "You don't have a fever but we were told you had a fever."

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........

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

This is what happens to nurses when public ignorance and hysteria is placated by politicians.

We've already seen nurses blamed for just about everything Ebola-related since the first case in Dallas, and now we see a nurse being held against her will, for no reason except to make scared people "feel safer."

"It does present serious civil liberties questions," said Norman Siegel, a civil liberties lawyer in New York and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Historically, we've had these kinds of issues occur previously, and the courts then resolved the individual liberty issue against the larger concerns of the public's health concerns. So it then becomes a factual issue, the fact that she tested negative."

"It's completely unnecessary," said Harvard's Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute).

"I'm a believer in an abundance of caution but I'm not a believer of an abundance of idiocy."

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

Ad this is why I do not want to care for someone with Ebola. I am not willing to quarantine myself for 21 days in a hospital. I have two dogs and I live alone. Who will take care of them?

[Mulan]

On the other hand, a bowling alley shut down and went through cleaning before reopening, and two food shops shut down and were cleared by the health department before reopening.

That all could have been avoided.

How many financial resources are being used/lost by all this?

Mayor Bill de Blasio dines at NY eatery visited by Ebola Dr to prove there is NO risk | Daily Mail Online

[babyNP., APRN]

it is so infuriating on so many levels. I am so happy this nurse is speaking out.

[macawake, MSN]

why should they have tooo???

have you read the replies/comments to the news articles

"A three week quarantine is a small price to pay to protect others. It was a noble choice to go and help those who were very ill with Ebola, but it was your choice.

FLAGSHAREREPLY+60rate up

1 replysuzie Claire A 20 minutes ago21 days out of your life and God knows how many other lives if you were not forced to do this..You call yourself a health care worker..please..I am not sure where you went to school, but you might want to go back and re-read...Ethics. Sad...really.. you have the nerve to complain! There is a bigger issue here than YOU! so Get over yourself! Even though you are being very selfish... I truly hope and pray you keep testing negative.

FLAGSHAREREPLY+3rate up

1 replysuzie suzie 19 minutes agoand you knew all this going in!""

I honestly don’t understand what point you’re attempting to make by quoting someone’s comment. I avoid most of the comments online since the vast majority of them are made by people who are operating from a position of fear and (medical) ignorance. I already know that the general public doesn’t understand how and when Ebola can be transmitted.

This isn’t a question of ethics. If anything, I’d argue that it’s a civil rights issue, and healthcare workers are now having their rights infringed upon.

Have you read my previous posts in this thread? Do you understand the points I’m making? Why would anyone think that it violates any ethical code of conduct to allow a person who isn’t contagious, his or her freedom?

We’re talking about dedicated healthcare professionals who’ve experienced this disease firsthand. They have cared for dying human beings, they have been there when their patients passed on. What they’ve experienced isn’t pretty. They understand the gravity and risks of an Ebola infection. They’ve earned the right to

be trusted to diligently self-monitor and if needed contact the proper healthcare authority. This means that they will be isolated in a medical facility if and when it becomes necessary. There’s no need whatsoever to lock them up while they’re asymptomatic, and pose no risk to anyone.

If this quarantine decision results in fewer healthcare workers volunteering, then we have a real problem. It’s a problem that we’ll all face, whether we live in West Africa or here. When the number of cases increases locally, the outbreak will spread faster globally as well. If anyone believes differently, they’re deluding themselves.

[OCNRN63, RN]

The nurse in quarantine speaks out:

Quarantined nurse knocks Ebola policy - CNN.com

​This is ridiculous. The terrorists at Gitmo get better living conditions and treatment.

[TheGooch]

None of you are experts on ebola so the moral outrage from you is a moot point. If you or a loved one contracted the disease because someone who was over there was out and about while they were sick and contagious I bet your tune would be a different one. Regardless of how they say it is spread it's a deadly disease and the comparison between it and the flu is stupid. Millions of people get the flu every year so the death rate is small compared to how many do survive. On the other hand the death rate is quite a large number in ebola cases and if millions of people had it more would die from that than the flu.

As for how it's spread why is it that people are still getting it even though they wear the protective gear. Either there is a break in protocol on their part or it is airborne.

[MissyWrite]

EVERY American should be very afraid right now.

Not afraid of Ebola -- afraid of our government. Every American should be outraged at just how easy it is to violate our basic human rights and our constitutional protections for absolutely no reason except baseless fear and a politician who wants votes.

THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF.

"Coercive measures like mandatory quarantine of people exhibiting no symptoms of Ebola and when not medically necessary raise serious constitutional concerns about the state abusing its powers," said Udi Ofer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

This nurse is NOT even allowed to speak to her lawyer. Even the worst criminals have a right to speak to a lawyer.

[macawake, MSN]

None of you are experts on ebola so the moral outrage from you is a moot point.

No, I’m not. However I am research literate. I have people close to me who are infectious disease doctors and I’ve talked to healthcare professionals who’ve been with MSF to West Africa during this current outbreak and to other locations during previous outbreaks. Add to that, I’ve got a friendly neighborhood BSL4 lab that will, time and resources permitting answer my inquiries. I feel that I have a sound foundation for my opinions on this issue. My opinions are my own, but I’ve used the resources available to me and based my conclusions on the available information.

If you or a loved one contracted the disease because someone who was over there was out and about while they were sick and contagious I bet your tune would be a different one.

I doubt that anyone gushing bodily fluids would be in any shape to be “out and about”. A healthcare professional with experience of treating EVD, who’d recently been in an affected part of the world, would seek medical attention before it ever got to that stage. Anyway, I don’t form or change my opinions on medical matters based on emotions, I look for guidance from the rational and logical part of my brain.

the death rate is quite a large number in ebola cases

The mortality rate of this disease is high. However, I believe that the future will show that the numbers will vastly improve, when medical care is being provided in our better equipped first-world hospitals. The care offered in West Africa is oftentimes rudimentary, here we can offer high-quality intensive care. It still early days, but the tendency of more people surviving the infection is clear. Either way I agree, it is a serious disease and not one to be taken lightly.

As for how it's spread why is it that people are still getting it even though they wear the protective gear. Either there is a break in protocol on their part

Most healthcare workers volunteering in West Africa don’t contract Ebola. I would imagine that a breach of protocol can happen though, despite the vast experience these volunteer organizations have with combating infectious diseases.

Think about the conditions they work in, healthcare workers face so many challenges. They have a large number of patients at the same time, in sub-optimal facilities. Many of the patients are in the final stage of the disease and their viral load is high. There are copious amounts of infectious bodily fluids. After the patients succumb to the illness, healthcare workers take care of the bodies (again, very high viral loads). The job is emotionally draining and physically exhausting. Working in full PPE in this climate is a challenge. It only takes a short lapse/loss of focus due to fatigue/exhaustion and a breach may occur.

or it is airborne.

:banghead:

No, it isn't.

[OCNRN63, RN]

EVERY American should be very afraid right now.

Not afraid of Ebola -- afraid of our government. Every American should be outraged at just how easy it is to violate our basic human rights and our constitutional protections for absolutely no reason except baseless fear and a politician who wants votes.

THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF.

"Coercive measures like mandatory quarantine of people exhibiting no symptoms of Ebola and when not medically necessary raise serious constitutional concerns about the state abusing its powers," said Udi Ofer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

This nurse is NOT even allowed to speak to her lawyer. Even the worst criminals have a right to speak to a lawyer.

How can her right to speak to her attorney be suspended? She has broken no laws. It terrifies me thata people who are supposedly educated are OK with this.

[luv2]

Ebola has unfortunately come to America the public and many healthcare workers are nervous about contracting Ebola. There is no official cure to this disease. I have three questions.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse was placed under a mandatory Ebola quarantine in New Jersey by Gov. Chris Christie do you as a healthcare worker do you believe her human rights is being violated?

Do you think all healthcare workers entering the U.S should be placed on a mandatory 21 day quarantine? Should all isolation be monitored?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Your poll question makes no sense. Additionally, there is already a thread in existence about this very situation. Perhaps your 3 questions have been answered there; if not, why not ask them there instead of starting a new thread.

https://allnurses.com/disasters-preparing-responding/rn-detained-quarantined-955983.html

[OCNRN63, RN]

​Besides which, we already have a thread dealing with this nurse being detained.