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Ebola Nurse Quarantine
vs Decontamination Costs

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

New Jersey & New York Quarantine vs Decontamination Costs

There is an old saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and that saying is being put to the fire due to the new quarantine policy enacted and being considered by several states - with New Jersey and New York leading the pack.

The woman in the middle of this quagmire is a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone and who returned to the United States.

Let's go back to the beginning of what has been reported thus far for this story. The nurse arrived in the United States and her temperature was taken as part of the screening process.  

As the screening progressed, it was reported by US media that the nurse got a little upset, a little heated over the new quarantine policy and her temperature was taken using a forehead scanner - and it was elevated. The nurse said the result was due to an instrument error. She was then placed under quarantine.

Based on new's media, she stated that at first she was shocked, but shock turned into anger. Governor Christie was ripped in addition to other officials for making public health decisions without professional medical expertise.

To be fair, perhaps this nurse was unaware of what we've endured in the US the last few weeks - with doctors and other medical pros running amuck while under self-quarantine/monitoring.

In addition, the condemnation of the Governor and other officials was a bit like saying, "Mr. President, you've never served in the Armed Forces, so how dare you make decisions related to military actions!"  And what about medical pros? Based on facts we've seen numerous quarantine violations. Epic fail. They are medical professionals - so NO EXCUSES.

There were complaints about the environment where the nurse was quarantined, HOWEVER, officials confirmed that a computer, a cell phone, food of her choice and reading material.

There were complaints about the new quarantine policy. Comments about other medical professionals who might not be willing to leave the US and return to quarantine. A lawyer was hired based on violation of 'basic human rights'.

Decontamination Costs $100,000+ for Small Apartment - Everything is Stripped

The opposite side of the coin.

The decontamination costs for the apartment which Mr. Duncan - the Liberian patient who succumbed to Ebola, cost $100,000+. The business that did the job had great difficulty in finding anyone that would take the refuse for destruction.

In addition, the apartment was stripped to the bare-bones. The carpeting, mattresses, food - everything that couldn't be properly sanitized was removed.

Self-Monitoring/Self-Quarantines Have Been Shown Not to Work

Given recent behavior, it has been reported that numerous individuals either broke or twisted self-quarantine measures.

However, there are times why a controlled quarantine is necessary. If we can't trust doctors and nurses to abide by self-monitoring, then who can we trust?

It simply boggles the mind why anyone who'd been exposed to Ebola would return and be around loved ones during the 21-day incubation period.

US Ebola Patients - All Medical Professionals Except Mr. Duncan

At this writing, no non-medical United States citizen has developed Ebola - only medical professionals who have treated Ebola patients. Furthermore, like the common cold or flu - they can't say exactly how they got Ebola.

Belize was wise not to allow the cruise ship to dock. If the individual on board had developed Ebola - that would have placed their medical staff at risk, and we'd have yet another country battling the epidemic.

Violating Self-Quarantines Costly to Businesses

After the nurse with the fever rode on Frontier Airlines, they replaced several items where she has sat and then decontaminated the plane several times.

Like it or not, much of the public is quite fearful of Ebola. The mortality rate is exceptionally high.

It's a little thing called 'public endangerment', something that we vote our politicians to take care of for us - to keep us out of harm's way. Governor Christie was doing his job - protecting his state. The federal government has shown to be quite incapable, making numerous missteps and not as prepared as they had claimed. We call that a sense of 'false assurance'.

To us, it's just good logic that if we were treating Ebola patients and returning to the US, we'd keep isolated from everyone - including our pets for the 21 day incubation window. If someone offered us a place for quarantining, we'd jump on the offer.

The other option - developing Ebola and the related costs if we'd stayed in our homes, isn't a good option. After decontamination, basically nothing is left behind. Perhaps there is room in the marketplace for Ebola insurance.....

We're not saying that a few bad apples spoil the entire bunch. We are saying that based on facts, it has been reported that several violations from numerous medical professionals which have cost lots of money for several businesses. At some point, someone needs to be responsible for those costs.

We also realize that Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms develop. The sicker the patient, the more risk involved for contracting the potentially-deadly virus. However, with public concern at elevated heights - businesses which were visited or used by people who eventually succumb to Ebola have suffered.

While the places that these patients visited were highly-unlikely to hold contaminated material, public fear and concern conflicted - so the businesses had to go above and beyond decontamination expectations for their customers and to ease the public's concerns.

Being a doctor, nurse or other medical pro and taking your temperature two times a day while running about the city on personal business or pleasure - it's creating massive headaches and havoc for businesses. This has to stop at some point, therefore the mandatory quarantines.

As to the situation in West Africa, once an individual has Ebola - they are immune for ten years. We are hoping that some of the 4,000+ survivors step forward and help stop the epidemic.

Finally, while treating Ebola is a humanitarian act, it's a little fuzzy for these same people to return to the US and not realize that they could possibly be a carrier of Ebola - and like the patients that they treated, they can place others at risk should they succumb to the virus.

Quarantining for 21 days - it's also a humanitarian act. For anyone resistant to self-quarantining, it raises lots of red flags, the first of which is selfishness.

The second, not caring who you may infect. It conflicts with the initial act of caring for Ebola patients. An oxy-moronic approach.

 

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