White House Pressures Cuomo, Christie to End Ebola Quarantine
Under pressure from the Obama administration, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday clarified their stances on the mandatory quarantining of all medical workers returning from West Africa. Christie relented and announced some changes in the policy.
At a press conference Sunday evening, Cuomo said that medical workers who have been involved in treating Ebola patients in West Africa but do not have symptoms of the disease can remain at home and also receive compensation for lost income, The New York Times reported.
"My personal practice is to air on the side of caution. Over the past four years as governor I've gone through floods, hurricanes, blizzards — I'm waiting for the locusts, there were no locusts yet, but I wouldn't be shocked if they arrived," he said, according to CBS News. "… The old expression is hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, and that is exactly what we have done for four years in New York and it served us well."
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Administration officials made behind-the-scenes pleas, urging Cuomo and Christie to reconsider the quarantine policy they announced Friday after it was learned that many people had contact with Dr. Craig Spencer of New York before he tested positive for Ebola.
Spencer was admitted to a hospital Thursday, and is now in isolation at Bellevue Hospital. He was treating Ebola patients in Guinea as part of his work with Doctors Without Borders.
A Texas nurse in New Jersey, Kaci Hickox, was detained Friday although she tested negative for the virus. She complained her treatment was "inhumane" and as if she was a criminal.
Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City who sat beside Cuomo at the press conference, criticized authorities in Christie's state. "The problem is this hero, having come back from the front, having done the right thing, was treated with disrespect, was treated with a sense that she had done something wrong when she hadn't."
The mayor added: "We respect the right of each governor to make decisions that they think are right for their people. But we have to think how we treat the people who are doing this noble work and we must show them respect and consideration at all times. And we owe [Hickox] better than that and all the people who do this work better than that."
Christie's office also issued a statement Sunday, saying, "A New Jersey resident with no symptoms, but who has come into contact with someone with Ebola, such as a healthcare provider, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and quarantined at home. Non-residents would be transported to their homes if feasible."
Obama aides have also urged other governors and mayors to change their strict quarantine policies.
Nina Pham, a nurse from Dallas, Texas, who contracted Ebola after treating Liberian national Thomas Duncan in the state, was declared virus-free and released from the NIH hospital in Maryland Friday.
At a briefing about her release, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, "The way you get Ebola is by direct contact with the body fluids of an ill individual. And if you don't have that, you do not have to worry about Ebola." He said it's important for people to "separate the issue of the risk to a general public with the risk with brave people like Nina and her colleagues — they're two different things."
