Situation Report

U.S. quarantines 'chilling' Ebola fight in West Africa: MSF

Fri, 2014-10-31 07:15 — mike kraft

REUTERS Oct. 30, 2014

(Reuters) - Mandatory quarantines ordered by some U.S. states for doctors and nurses returning from West Africa's Ebola outbreak are creating a "chilling effect" on aid work there, the humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday.

A Doctors Without Borders health worker takes off his protective gear under the surveillance of a colleague at a treatment facility for Ebola victims in Monrovia September 29, 2014. Credit: Reuters/James Giahyue

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about U.S. quarantines 'chilling' Ebola fight in West Africa: MSF
Log in or register to post comments

In New York, Protections Offered for Medical Workers Joining Ebola Fight

Thu, 2014-10-30 23:04 — mike kraft

NEW YORK TIMES Oct. 30, 2014
By MARC SANTORA and ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

New York officials announced on Thursday that they would offer employee protection and financial guarantees for health care workers joining the fight against the Ebola outbreak in three West African nations.

The announcement was an effort to alleviate concerns that the state’s mandatory quarantine policy could deter desperately needed workers from traveling overseas.

Under the new protections, modeled after the rights granted military reservists, workers could not suffer any pay cuts or demotions for serving in Africa, and the state would make up any lost income if they had to be quarantined when they returned.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about In New York, Protections Offered for Medical Workers Joining Ebola Fight
Log in or register to post comments

Dozens Of Volunteers Have Come Back Safe From Ebola Hot Zone

Thu, 2014-10-30 17:12 — mike kraft

NBC NEWS Oct. 30, 2014
By Maggie Fox and Stacey Naggiar

Close to 50 volunteers have come back safe and well from the Ebola hot zone in West Africa, aid agencies tell NBC News, even as states debate whether to force such workers into quarantine.

Denmark / U.S. CBP via Reuters file

A look at the numbers from groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the International Medical Corps shows just about 150 people have gone to help fight the epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Of them, 47 have returned symptom-free.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Dozens Of Volunteers Have Come Back Safe From Ebola Hot Zone
Log in or register to post comments

Lack of federal authority makes fashioning coherent national Ebola policy difficult

Thu, 2014-10-30 11:21 — mike kraft

Discussion of conflicting quarantine guidelines

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWSWIRE Oct. 30, 1014
Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) issued new guidelines on how states should deal with travelers from Ebola-stricken regions, but a lack of federal authority to mandate such guidelines has led to conflicting strategies, varying from state to state, which includes mandatory at-home quarantine for some travelers. Under current U.S. law, the states have the authority to issue quarantine or isolation policies, and they also control the enforcement of these policies within their territories.

Read complete article
http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20141030-lack-of-federal-authority-makes-fashioning-coherent-national-ebola-policy-difficult

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Lack of federal authority makes fashioning coherent national Ebola policy difficult
Log in or register to post comments

How Ebola quarantines actually work, explained

Wed, 2014-10-29 17:00 — mike kraft

A young man, dressed in a biohazard costume, stands on the corner of 546 West 147th Street in New York City. Bryan Thomas/Getty Images

VOX Oct. 29, 2014
By Julia Bellez
As Ebola fears wash over America, some state governors are turning to mandatory quarantines: locking up healthy workers returning from West Africa for 21 days, Ebola's incubation period. The policy in New Jersey made national headlines after it resulted in a nurse who had no Ebola symptoms — and had been fighting the disease in West Africa, no less — being isolated in a poorly heated tent with no running shower or toilet.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about How Ebola quarantines actually work, explained
Log in or register to post comments

US Health Care Unprepared for Ebola

Wed, 2014-10-29 15:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

FILE- In this Oct. 24, 2014, file photo, members of the Department of Defense's Ebola Military Medical Support Team dress with protective gear during training at San Antonio Military Medical Center in San Antonio. Even small clusters of Ebola cases could overwhelm parts of US medical care system, according to an Associated Press review of readiness at hospitals and other components of the emergency medical network. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File) The Associated Press

AP - abcnews.go.com - By JEFF DONN and GARANCE BURKE - October 29, 2014

The U.S. health care apparatus is so unprepared and short on resources to deal with the deadly Ebola virus that even small clusters of cases could overwhelm parts of the system, according to an Associated Press review of readiness at hospitals and other components of the emergency medical network.

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about US Health Care Unprepared for Ebola
Log in or register to post comments

Maine state police dispatched to back nurse's quarantine

Wed, 2014-10-29 13:16 — mike kraft

USA TODAY OCT. 29, 2014
By Doug Staglin
Maine state police were stationed outside the home of Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox Wednesday as Gov. Paul LePage said he was seeking legal authority to force the "unwilling" health care workers to remain quarantined for 21 days.

The 33-year-old nurse, who has shown no symptoms of the deadly virus, arrived in Maine on Monday after being forcibly held in an isolation tent in New Jersey for three days under that state's strict new law for health care workers who have recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa.

Over Hickox's objections, Maine health officials insisted that she stay in her home in Fort Kent for 21 days until the incubation period for Ebola had passed.

"I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines," Hickox tells Today show's Matt Lauer. "I am not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public."

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Maine state police dispatched to back nurse's quarantine
Log in or register to post comments

Nurse's discharge leaves one Ebola case in U.S., though larger battle continues

Tue, 2014-10-28 20:29 — mike kraft

CNN Oct. 28, 2014

By Greg Botelho, Jason Hanna and Ashley Fantz,

The release today of nurse Amber Vinson from the Emory Unversity hospital in Atlanta hospital leaves a single person in the United States now battling Ebola, though MS Vinson and others -- including President Barack Obama -- stressed the fight against the deadly virus isn't over.

Dr. Craig Spencer is now the only person in the United States being treated for Ebola. The 33-year-old was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York City after developing a fever on Thursday, six days after returning to the United States and over a week after leaving Guinea, where he worked for Doctors Without Borders.

See complete story
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/health/us-ebola/
-0-

WASHINGTON POST GRAPHICS

Seven people were treated and declared Ebola-free; one died. Here is a look at the nine U.S. Ebola patients:

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/status-of-us-ebola-cases/1406/

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Situation Report

Read more about Nurse's discharge leaves one Ebola case in U.S., though larger battle continues
Log in or register to post comments

Obama Defends C.D.C.’s Ebola Rules as ‘Sensible, Based in Science’

Tue, 2014-10-28 19:42 — mike kraft

WHITE HOUSE SUPPORTS CDC GUIDELINES FOR CIVILIANS, EXPLAINS DIFFERENT TREATMENT FOR U.S. TROOPS

NEW YORK TIMES Oct. 28, 2014
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Tuesday said that new Ebola guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were “sensible, based in science” and would help keep Americans safe while not discouraging volunteers from traveling to West Africa to battle the disease at its source....

Country / Region Tags:

General Topic Tags:

Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?:

Problem

Situation Report

Read more about Obama Defends C.D.C.’s Ebola Rules as ‘Sensible, Based in Science’
Log in or register to post comments

Seeking Unity, U.S. Revises Ebola Monitoring Rules

Tue, 2014-10-28 11:02 — mike kraft

UPDATE WITH DETAILS OF MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA MONITORING (Scroll down)

ROUNDUP OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE QUARANTINE DISPUTE
NEW YORK TIMES Oct. 28, 2014

By SABRINA TAVERNISE, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and HELENE COOPER

The federal government on Monday tried to take charge of an increasingly acrimonious national debate over how to treat people in contact with Ebola patients by announcing guidelines that stopped short of tough measures in New York and New Jersey and were carefully devised, officials said, not to harm the effort to recruit badly needed medical workers to West Africa.