Support Kaci Hickox

[nurse2033]

She is the nurse who returned from Africa and was placed in quarantine despite not being sick. I'm not going to give all the details here, they are readily available online. I support her position and hope you do too. She is not sick, she should not be quarentined.

[Crazynut]

Everyone keeps focusing on fevers. But fevers are tricky. There's no way to scientifically prove if ebola is contagious at temp 98, 99, 100, or 103. Everyones body is different and will react differently to the virus. Temps are a quick screening tool but not very accurate or reliable. Until we start doing antigen testing monitoring will be required. Period. Kaci needs to suck it up!

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Everyone keeps focusing on fevers. But fevers are tricky. There's no way to scientifically prove if ebola is contagious at temp 98, 99, 100, or 103. Everyones body is different and will react differently to the virus. Temps are a quick screening tool but not very accurate or reliable. Until we start doing antigen testing monitoring will be required. Period. Kaci needs to suck it up!

Kaci did not object to "monitoring." She objected to being locked up while completely asymptomatic-not just afebrile, but entirely asymptomatic. No muscle aches. No malaise. No debilitating fatigue. No nausea, no vomiting, no diarrhea.

In order to lock people up in crappy tents with no shower facilities or functional plumbing, or even force them to stay in their own homes, not even allowed to venture out on a bike, 3 whole weeks, one should have proof that an asymptomatic or even early symptomatic person is contagious. There is NO evidence that this is the case. We have seen with our own eyes in the US that even infected people in the early stages of their illness have infected no one. NOT ONE PERSON among hundreds and hundreds of people exposed to Mr. Duncan and Amber Vinson and Nina Pham in their early stages of infection have become ill.

The fear mongers have NOT ONE PERSON to hang their hat on. Why anyone is listening to their nonsense is beyond me.

[Crazynut]

Well each state is different. That was the law in NC. The missionary group Nancy went with was held in Charlotte NC. You never heard one of them ***** or complain about it. So it may not have been the law in NJ or Maine. But it sure is law in NC! The govnt can and will force quarantine. Seen TB pts taken out in handcuffs. Public health trumps civil liberties everytime. Review the case law!

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Well each state is different. That was the law in NC. The missionary group Nancy went with was held in Charlotte NC. You never heard one of them ***** or complain about it. So it may not have been the law in NJ or Maine. But it sure is law in NC! The govnt can and will force quarantine. Seen TB pts taken out in handcuffs. Public health trumps civil liberties everytime. Review the case law!

You mean the TB patients who are actually infected with TB?

The consensus among actual ebola experts across the world is that asymptomatic individuals are not contagious, therefore present no risk to the public. Kaci Hickox was not infected with ebola and attempting to run around her town flinging her vomit and diarrhea around. There are illnesses which can be spread before symptoms even appear (influenza for one). Ebola is not one of them.

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

The science is weak! Because there is so much we dont know.

It is easy to say the science is weak when you don't provide any context to that statement or scientific evidence.

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

Everyone keeps focusing on fevers. But fevers are tricky. There's no way to scientifically prove if ebola is contagious at temp 98, 99, 100, or 103. Everyones body is different and will react differently to the virus. Temps are a quick screening tool but not very accurate or reliable. Until we start doing antigen testing monitoring will be required. Period. Kaci needs to suck it up!

Fever is only one symptom that is assessed, and people that are asymptomatic haven't been shown to have a high enough viral load to be able to transmit ebola.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

The science is weak! Because there is so much we dont know..

Ebola has been studied for decades. The science is not weak. For all the talk about "constant mutations," there is no evidence that asymptomatic individuals are a public health menace. None.

[wtbcrna, MSN, DNP, CRNA]

Well each state is different. That was the law in NC. The missionary group Nancy went with was held in Charlotte NC. You never heard one of them ***** or complain about it. So it may not have been the law in NJ or Maine. But it sure is law in NC! The govnt can and will force quarantine. Seen TB pts taken out in handcuffs. Public health trumps civil liberties everytime. Review the case law!

The government can try to impose quarantine of asymptomatic people all they want, but the government agency most likely will lose again because it has not proven to be a need for public health to lock up asymptomatic individuals that were exposed to ebola.

[chare]

Well each state is different. That was the law in NC. The missionary group Nancy went with was held in Charlotte NC. You never heard one of them ***** or complain about it.

Are you suggesting that a missionary group was held in NC? For what reason?

So it may not have been the law in NJ or Maine. But it sure is law in NC! The govnt can and will force quarantine.

What law in NC would allow the government to force an asymptomatic person into quarantine? And what would they base this decision upon?

Seen TB pts taken out in handcuffs. Public health trumps civil liberties everytime. Review the case law!

Really? You have personally seen patients taken out of a facility in handcuffs? How many? And when, and where, did this occur?

Are you able to provide sources for any of these remarkable claims that you've made here?

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

If stupidity were contagious, I think we'd ALL be in trouble.

[OCNRN63, RN]

I get the impression that some people feel Kaci should have said, "Oh, OK. I'll just surrender my civil rights. Even though I'm not sick, even though science and a majority of the medical community is on my side, that's OK. I'll just roll over and let the government trample on my rights if it makes the uneducated public feel safer."

Not me. I would have been protesting loud and clear, and you can bet your bippy I would have been on the horn to an attorney. If I had the weight of two, no, three state governments bearing down on me, darn straight I would have a lawyer to have my back. And I would be protesting loud and clear, not playing the role of meek little girl.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I support Kaci.

I think people in Kaci's situation should be submitted to a mandatory symptom watch (like what had already been happening), but as long as there are no symptoms, there should be no quarantine.