President Barack Obama said the U.S. risks discouraging doctors and nurses critical in the fight to stop Ebola if authorities impose unneeded quarantines when they return from West Africa.
Seeking to quell a debate that erupted over the weekend about whether to isolate medical workers returning from the Ebola-stricken region, Obama said the country must support “the incredible heroism” of those who volunteer to combat the often-fatal virus.
While Obama didn’t directly mention the quarantine requirements imposed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, he said all levels of the U.S. government must be working together.
“We don’t just react just based on our fears,” Obama said, pointing out that only two cases of Ebola have been contracted in the U.S. and both victims have recovered. “We react based on facts and judgment.”
The administration is seeking to head off creation of a patchwork of state and local responses to Ebola. He spoke a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released tighter guidelines to handle potential cases of Ebola exposure that stopped short of mandatory quarantine for those without symptoms.
Quarantine Policies
Cuomo and Christie announced policies requiring 21-day quarantines for anyone returning from a country with an Ebola outbreak who may have had contact with patients. While New York has scaled back the requirements somewhat, Christie said on NBC’s “Today Show” that he isn’t “moving an inch.”
Adding to the conflicting messages, the Joint Chiefs of Staff has recommended holding all U.S. military personnel returning from duty in West Africa for 21 days of confinement and monitoring. Obama and other administration officials said the situation for the military is different from that of civilian health workers.
Obama spoke after a conference call with members of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Disaster Assistance Response Team working in Liberia and Guinea.
They and the medical personnel in the Ebola-stricken region “are doing God’s work over there,” Obama said.
Virus Source
Treating volunteers with respect was key to containing the outbreak in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, where more than 10,000 cases have been diagnosed. Halting the disease at its source is the only way to stop it from spreading to the U.S. or other regions of the world, he said.
“America cannot look like it is shying away, because other people are watching what we do,” Obama said. “And if we don’t have a robust international response in West Africa, then we are actually endangering ourselves here back home.”
The virus arrived in the U.S. last month in a Liberian man who later died. Two nurses who treated the traveler at a Dallas hospital were infected and have since recovered. An American doctor who worked with Ebola patients was diagnosed last week in New York City and is undergoing treatment.
Obama said those cases underscore that Ebola can be contained. “Only two people have contracted Ebola on American soil,” Obama said. ‘Today, both of them are disease-free.’’
Five other Americans who were infected in Africa and who returned to the U.S. for treatment also have survived.
CDC Guidelines
The CDC guidelines break people down into four categories. Those considered highest risk would be isolated in their homes for 21 days. People like the New York doctor, as well as a nurse who was quarantined under New Jersey’s policy, would be monitored closely, though not isolated automatically.
Under the U.S. system, however, governors and local officials have wide latitude to set stricter policies.
Christie said the CDC is “incrementally moving toward our position” with its latest guidance and six states along with the Army are following New Jersey’s lead.
While the Army has moved to isolate soldiers involved in Ebola-related duty, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel is still considering whether that should apply to all branches of the military.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the military operates under different rules and circumstances. The number of health care workers affected numbered in the dozens, while the armed forces will have thousands of personnel in the region, making monitoring their health more difficult, he said.
Obama said that while the military personnel aren’t treating patients, they aren’t there voluntarily “are already, by definition, if they’re in the military, under more circumscribed conditions.”
Obama has committed to spending as much as $1 billion to the U.S. response, which include the USAID teams, as many as 4,000 military personnel, protective equipment, medical supplies and laboratory work.
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