Letters: Debating Ebola containment policy
Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, who treated Ebola patients in Guinea, tested positive for the disease at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014. Credit: Facebook
The nerve of nurse Kaci Hickox to be upset over being detained because of her exposure to Ebola patients ["Incentives for professionals in Ebola fight," News, Oct. 31].
The White House left us without a secure plan, resulting in our governors having to protect us. Anyone returning to this country who could potentially carry the virus should be happy to be detained not only for their own good but to protect their fellow Americans.
Adrienne Bryant, Northport
All I can say is, thank God for Govs. Andrew M. Cuomo and Chris Christie! It's ridiculous that these two had to come up with the plan to require anyone returning from treating Ebola-stricken patients be quarantined.
No riding the subways, no bowling, no visiting friends or family. This should have been a Centers for Disease Control protocol right from the beginning. This is a very serious situation, and at least these two governors took strong steps.
As Cuomo says, the honor system doesn't work. For Doctors Without Borders to oppose this quarantine is absurd. One of its doctors came back infected despite wearing protective equipment. Explain that!
Marla Posillico, Oakdale
I believe that health experts would agree that to control Ebola, the best policy is to stop it at the source.
No one wants to ban travel to and from West Africa, but why can't we create an Ebola centralized clearance center, through the World Health Organization, to quarantine travelers from West Africa for a waiting period?
With that, the medical staff and others who wish to travel wherever in this world would be safe to mingle with other travelers without fear of contracting or spreading this disease.
Peter G. Kraeker, Hicksville
Some support enforcing an immediate temporary travel ban, preventing entry by people who visited the West African countries afflicted by the Ebola virus. If the government had done this right after Thomas Eric Duncan tested positive for Ebola, then Dr. Craig Spencer, who was helping Ebola victims in West Africa, would not have become New York's first diagnosed case.
A travel ban is unprecedented, and health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization do not recommend it. They explain that people coming from West Africa may enter the United States through other means, and the CDC would not be able to track and monitor them for symptoms. That would lead to greater problems and greater fear.
Also, if this ban were implemented, American physicians might not want to help Ebola victims in West Africa because they would not be able to return home. A mandatory 21-day quarantine might also discourage American health care workers from helping in West Africa.
Should we rely on returning Americans to report to an emergency room if they are symptomatic?
Stephanie Tam, Little Neck
I can tell you the reaction I've witnessed on the streets of New York City to the news that there's been a case of Ebola here: meh.
People still take the trains to work, business still goes on, schools still open, lives are led. Nobody is wearing hazmat suits.
The young doctor who was infected with this horrible disease is emblematic of all that is best in America: a person of means, education and privilege risked his safety to make the world a better place. There is no higher ideal. Prayers should and do go out to him and his family.
John Carney, Baldwin
