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New Ebola Quarantine Protocol Seen as Barrier to Volunteers

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NEW YORK TIMES               Oct. 25, 2014
by David W. Shin and Liz Robbins

The surprise decision by the governors of New York and New Jersey yesterday to impose a mandatory quarantine on persons who arrived at area airports and had contact with Ebola infected persons has touched off concern that it will deter people from volunteering to work in West Africa.

"Among medical professionals who have been fighting Ebola in West Africa, the restrictions only intensified the debate. While a few of those interviewed said an overabundance of caution was welcome, the vast majority said that restrictions like those adopted by New York and New Jersey could cripple volunteers’ efforts at the front lines of the epidemic."

" Dr. Rick Sacra, who contracted Ebola in Liberia and was flown back to the United States to be treated in September, said...many doctors and nurses who volunteered would spend about three weeks in Africa and then return to their regular jobs. The requirement that they be quarantined at home upon their return “will effectively double the burden on those people, on the loss of productive time,” Dr. Sacra said.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/25/nyregion/ebola-quarantines-seen-as-barrier-to-volunteers.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSumLargeMedia&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

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WASHINGTON POST                                                              Oct. 25, 2014

 The Obama administration said it was weighing the dilemma.

“We do want to ensure that whatever policies we put in place takes as the first priority the protection of the American public,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. “But at the same time, we don’t want to overly burden those individuals who are going to great lengths to try to serve their fellow man and stop this outbreak at the source, which ultimately is in the best interests of the American people.”

See full article

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ny-nj-governors-impose-new-ebola-quarantine-rules/2014/10/24/8096e43e-5bac-11e4-8264-deed989ae9a2_story.html

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