Christie: Ebola Quarantine Will Be 'Nat'l Policy'

Others argue that science should prevail over one-size-fits-all policy
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 26, 2014 9:25 AM CDT
Christie: Ebola Quarantine Will Be 'Nat'l Policy'
In this Oct. 22, 2014 file photo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering at Hackensack University Medical Center.   (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

Chris Christie may have a pretty irate nurse taking the Garden State to task over the execution of his mandatory-quarantine policy toward Ebola, but he's standing by it. "I think this is a policy that will become a national policy sooner rather than later," he told Fox News Sunday today, as per Politico. "It was my conclusion that we needed to do this to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey. We have taken this action, and I have no second thoughts about it." Fellow Republican Darrell Issa, meanwhile, says that New Jersey's quarantine—like those in Illinois and New York—is an attempt to compensate for the White House's lack of leadership on Ebola, but probably not the best course. "Science has told us that if someone doesn’t have an elevated temperature or the other later symptoms, that we can rely on them not being contagious," he said. "If that’s true, then immediate isolation of people for 21 days is not the answer. Again, trust matters." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial:

  • National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci: "Asymptomatic (people) do not transmit. That doesn't mean we're cavalier about it, but that means there are other steps (to avoid the) unintended consequences of disincentivizing health care workers." Per the AP: "The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health care workers so we do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable
  • US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power: Returning American health care workers need to be "treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done."
(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)

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