If the feds won’t do it, we will.
Govs. Cuomo and Christie on Friday announced mandatory 21-day quarantines for at-risk travelers arriving at JFK and Newark Liberty airports from Ebola afflicted countries – tough new measures that exceed those imposed by the feds.
“These actions that we are taking are necessary to protect health the of the people of New Jersey and New York,“ Christie said during a press conference in Manhattan. “Gov Cuomo and I agreed quarantine was the right way to go. We have the legal authority to do it. We are doing it.”
They said that the “voluntary screening” policy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was ineffective, and that they acted because the CDC’s shifting guidelines weren’t sufficient to protect the public from the spreading contagion,
“This is what needs to occur in every scenario. The CDC guidance is continually changing. We need to set a standard for our two states,” Christie bluntly stated.
“A voluntary Ebola quarantine is not enough. This is too serious a public health situation,” Cuomo added.“I think increasing the screening procedures is necessary and reduces the risk to New Yorkers and people in New Jersey.”
The announcement followed the arrival of a woman at Newark airport from a West African country who had had contact with Ebola patients.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) listens as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talks at a news conference announcing the mandatory quarantine, Friday, Oct. 24.Photo: AP
Christie said the CDC was notified, but that it was New Jersey health officials who made the decision to quarantine the woman, who was not a New Jersey resident but had planned on traveling next to New York.
Bellevue Hospital nurse Belkys Fortune (left) and Teressa Celia, Associate Director of Infection Prevention and Control, pose in protective suits in an isolation room, in the Emergency Room of the hospital, during a demonstration of procedures for possible Ebola patients, Oct. 8.Photo: AP
Those considered at risk include medical personnel from West African nations where the deadly virus is rampant as well as those who had contact with Ebola patients.
The quarantined woman, a US citizen and healthcare worker, began her travel in Sierra Leone and did not show any symptoms, NorthJersey.com reported.
It was unclear where she would be kept under quarantine for the disease’s three-week incubation period – and Christie turned sarcastic when asked where she was being held.
“I don’t know. She’s not in the United Lounge, I can tell you that. She’s probably getting pizza at Sbarros,” he said, before adding that she was in a secure area.
But a friend of the woman’s, Dr. Seema Yasmin, furiously ranted on Twitter over the new guidelines and how her pal was being treated, saying she was given no information after she was ordered to be placed under quarantine.
“My friend an MSF nurse is being held against her will at Newark airprt [sic] because she returned from a grueling month treating #Ebola in West Africa,” she tweeted.
“She has no symptoms, not allowed to leave Newark airport, no info on who is keeping her. She is tired, hungry, distraught,” she said in a follow-up.
“If you want to quarantine #nurses returning from #Ebola hot zone, pls give them more than a granola bar & please tell them what is going on,” she said in another in a series of angry tweets.
Yahoo Local News – New York Post
http://ift.tt/1pJpKLI
via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
No comments:
Post a Comment