In the NY Times:

Donna E. Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties  Union, said the most restrictive protocols are far too broad.

“The current order is sweeping in individuals who are asymptomatic and who may never develop symptoms,” Ms. Lieberman said. “I think there is a  serious question as to whether the governor has the authority to impose the broad quarantine that he has imposed,” she added.

The quarantine by New Jersey of medical workers returning from Ebola-afflicted areas of West Africa is virtually without precedent in  the modern history of the nation, public health and legal experts said  on Sunday.

LINK TO THE ARTICLE:

http://tinyurl.com/qau7wqn

Open link, no sub required:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/nyregion/as-states-look-to-halt-ebola-restrictions-prompt-a-debate.html

The Wall Street Journal:

White House Pushes Back On Ebola Quarantines

The White House pushed back against the governors of New York, New Jersey, Illinois and other states that instituted procedures to forcibly quarantine medical workers returning from West Africa,  deepening a debate brought on by recent Ebola cases in the U.S.

• Nurse to Legally Challenge Quarantine
• Cuomo, Christie Split
• New York Patient in “Serious But Stable” Condition

The governor of New Jersey has a lot of admirers. Tough, decisive and willing to bully people when he thinks the situation calls for it and some people really grove on that whole idea.

The Ebola problem (it is not a crisis in this country) shows how Christie would likely act if he were ever to get into the White House: bold, quick and wrong. Christie has repeatedly referred to the nurse being held at a hospital in New Jersey as sick. He has said “I hope she gets well.”   Problem is, she isn’t sick. She doesn’t have Ebola, might never get Ebola and is being confined against her wishes. She has no symptoms of Ebola and might never. Gov. Christie is from the “Ready! Fire! Aim!” school of leadership.

Overreaction to Ebola, responding to the panic among many, will not solve this problem and could make it much worse. If there were to be a major outbreak in the United States, there aren’t enough places to confine people, other than jails, for the 21 day incubation period when they have no symptoms and can’t transmit the disease to others. A careful, reasoned response now would go a long way toward setting up one later and would help to reduce the potential panic if there should be a major outbreak. Over doing it now could put the country in a deep bind if the public should believe that such drastic measures, complete quarantines, are required for anyone who might have come into contact with anyone who might have transmitted the disease.

To put it bluntly, in the event of a major outbreak, we can’t arrest 1/4 or 1/3 of the nation. Home, self monitoring would be a requirement in a major outbreak, so why not get started now, set up the parameters and make sure it is working? (It won’t work 100% of the time, but confining thousands of people won’t work, either.) Confinement could also backfire by encouraging people to avoid reporting contacts, in which case they would be monitor neither at home nor in a quarantine.

Governor Christie’s style of leadership, however much it is admired by those who go in for toughness, is actually a trap. If you go marching off proud and strong in the wrong direction, how do you reverse course without suddenly looking weak? If looking weak is the great enemy (not getting things right), then you don’t ever reverse course and you keep going with the wrong plans and policies. This is what makes Christie, particularly on the national stage, dangerous.

Doug Terry, 10.27.14