The federal government continues to push against mandatory quarantines, but nearly three-fourths of Americans support them.
Seventy-one percent of Americans say that healthcare workers who have treated Ebola patients in West Africa returning to the United States should be subject to a 21-day quarantine — even if they have no symptoms, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Twenty-four percent disagree with the notion of mandatory quarantines, which comes days after nurse Kaci Hickox fought the governors of New Jersey and Maine over her mandatory quarantine. Hickox showed no symptoms and tested negative for the virus.
Support for the quarantines, which both White House and top health officials say would be counterproductive in the fight against Ebola in West Africa, differs along political lines, age and education level.
A “blanket 21-day quarantine” would present a “major disincentive” to efforts to recruit healthcare workers to go fight the disease in Africa, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said last week.
Eight-five percent of Republicans back the quarantines, versus 65 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Independents.
A third of 18-34 year olds oppose the quarantines, compared with just one in 10 seniors.
There is also a clear divide based on education: 80 percent of those with a high school education or less are in favor, compared to a 63 percent favoring by those with college or post-graduate educations.
The poll was done Oct. 30-Nov. 1, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.73 percent.
