Chris Christie Defends Ebola Quarantines

Posted:

WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday defended his abrupt Ebola quarantine policy, saying he was not concerned that the aggressive treatment of health care workers would prevent American doctors from going overseas to combat the disease.

Speaking on 'Fox News Sunday,' Christie said the quarantine arrangement was a necessary step to protect the public in densely populated areas from a disease that he said the federal Centers for Disease Control had not effectively contained.

'The fact of the matter is, CDC protocols ... have been moving target,' Christie said.

The New Jersey governor agreed with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Friday to quarantine anyone entering the U.S. through JFK or Newark airports who has had contact with Ebola patients. The quarantines will last for 21 days -- the incubation period of the virus.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who had volunteered with Doctors Without Borders to treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, said in an op-ed for the Dallas Morning News that she was treated like a 'criminal' upon her return to the United States from West Africa. Hickox said she was detained for six hours in a process that seemed punitive and absent of medical expertise -- 'a frenzy of disorganization, fear and, most frightening, quarantine,' as Hickox put it. Hickox tested negative for Ebola when she was finally allowed to leave the airport for a hospital, where she is being quarantined for three weeks.

'I sat alone in the isolation tent and thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal,' Hickox wrote. 'Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?'

A total of four U.S. patients have been diagnosed with Ebola since late September. The CDC confirmed on Sept. 30 that a man who had traveled from Liberia to Dallas had tested positive for the disease, and two nurses who treated him eventually tested positive as well amid widespread criticism of the hospital's protocols to protect its workers. Public health officials now believe that case to be contained. Another doctor who had treated Ebola patients in Guinea tested positive in New York City last week.

Ebola can only be contracted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person experiencing Ebola symptoms. While public health officials remain alarmed by the outbreak in West Africa, where resources, medical infrastructure and personnel are all in short supply, concerns for a major outbreak in the U.S. are much more muted.

'If you put everyone in one basket, even people who are clearly no threat, then we have the problem of the disincentive of people that we need,' Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on ABC on Sunday. 'Let's not forget the best way to stop this epidemic and protect America is to stop it in Africa, and you can really help stopping it in Africa if we have our people, our heroes, the health care workers, go there and help us to protect America.'

Doctors Without Borders is a public health nonprofit that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. The organization issued a press release criticizing Hickox's treatment, saying they are concerned about the conditions of her quarantine and the apparent lack of information on the terms of the Christie-Cuomo policy.

'There is a notable lack of clarity about the new guidelines announced yesterday by state authorities in New York and New Jersey,' said Sophie Delaunay, executive director of Doctors Without Borders.

Public health experts have warned that the Ebola risk to both the United States and other countries will increase if the Western medical professionals cannot combat the disease in West Africa. But Christie brushed off concerns that his quarantine policy would discourage doctors and nurses from fighting the disease abroad.

'Folks that ... take that step and are willing to volunteer also understand it's in their interest and in public health interest [to be quarantined for three weeks],' Christie said.

The CDC has the authority to issue recommendations for public health issues like Ebola, and has not suggested quarantines. But state and local officials have the authority to impose more stringent standards if they see fit. A major nurses union has sustained criticism of the CDC's guidelines, calling them unclear.

'The government's job is to protect safety and health of our citizens,' Christie said. 'I have no second thoughts about it.'