The Obama administration is working on new guidelines for healthcare workers returning to the United States from Ebola-stricken areas in Africa and expects to make an announcement about it as early as this week.
The only way to eliminate the risk of additional cases of Ebola here at home is to re-examine U.S. policies for the returning workers, a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner late Sunday.
The pledge to come up with new guidelines comes after a report in the New York Times on Sunday that the White House is urging governors in New York and New Jersey to overturn their decision to quarantine healthcare workers coming back from treating Ebola patients in West Africa.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey have taken steps to quarantine healthcare workers returning to their states out of fears that the federal government hasn’t done enough to prevent the deadly virus from spreading within the United States.
“We have also let these states know that we are working on new guidelines for returning health care workers that will protect the American people against imported cases, while, at the same time, enabling us to continue to tackle this epidemic in West Africa,” the administration official said, noting that the White House has expressed concerns about state attempts to control the disease that are “not grounded in science.”
“We will continue to consult with the states as these guidelines are developed, and we expect to have more to say on this in the coming days,” he added.
After complaints from the White House, Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Sunday night announced new quarantine guidelines for patients who may have been exposed to Ebola. Instead of restricting healthcare workers who have had contact with patients infected with Ebola to medical facilities for 21 days, they can now remain at their homes for the duration.
A New Jersey nurse exposed to the virus has hired a civil rights lawyer after being placed under what she argued was a “really inhumane” quarantine. The first Ebola patient in New York, Dr. Craig Spencer, remains in serious but stable condition. He returned to Manhattan after treating patients in West Africa.
