The 32 million people that died of AIDS and the over 30 million people currently living with HIV taught us how well stigma fueled-attempts to quarantine the sick from the healthy worked.
Does The State Have The Right To Quarantine Someone Because They Might Have Ebola?
by minimus 59 Replies latest jw friends
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jgnat
HIV is a slow killer. Ebola does not grant that sort of time.
Cuba used quarantine in the early days of the HIV outbreak and has an enviable rate of infection (0.1%).
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jgnat
Thanks to modern medicine, we've forgotten that there was a time when quarantine was one of the few tools in the medical toolkit. Tuberculosis treatment before antibiotics was quarantine in a sanatorium. The most effective treatment, 3,000 calorie a day diet to help the body fight the disease.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1079536/
Yes, a huge social cost but necessary in the absence of alternatives for such a terrifying disease. There's stories here in Alberta of family members sending back letters unopened in fear of catching the disease.
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Band on the Run
I d on't know if she still has no standing to sue b//c she is not under mandatory quarantine. States have broad power to enforce public health measures. It appears, however, that there is no science behind the decisions of the governors of NY, NJ, and Illinois. The financial markets probably wanted some reassurance. I am ever mindful that Governor Christie may be a presidential candidate. I was just at the hospital where she was held under quarantine. The doctors were extremely rude to me. They are used to dealing with people who have no power. I wonder if she were held at New York's Bellevue Hospital if she would be so angry. I would be angry if my civil rights were infringed when no science backs up the action. Wars and plagues are always perilous times for civil liberties.
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Justnowout
Are you seriously Suggesting that a single person died of aids Because of a quaratine? I was alive in the 80's when aids was identified and do not recall quaratine ever being practice, at least in the USA. I would suggest most who contracted full blown aids died as result of an infection their body couldnt fight, not quaratine. Perhaps you could cite a case?
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poopsiecakes
Please ignore all of the fear mongering that is coming from the media and politicians. This woman is asymptomatic and Ebola is NOT contagious unless symptoms have presented. Just because some people who haven't done their homework say that she needs to be quarantined for 21 days doesn't mean that this is the case or that she is selfish. Leave it to the professionals to make the decision and the professionals (actual doctors who know what they're talking about) say that she does NOT need to be quarantined. The media frenzy around her this morning when she went for a bike ride was ridiculous and it's pretty clear that they're not worried about catching anything, based on the way they were swarming her.
From the WHO website:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/
Symptoms of Ebola virus disease
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms is 2 to 21 days. Humans are not infectious until they develop symptoms. First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding (e.g. oozing from the gums, blood in the stools).
Yes, it's a scary disease for those who have it but let's be real about how many people have it, why they have it, how dangerous it actually is, and focus on what can be done to help the people in Western Africa who are most at risk.
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Simon
Funy how the pro-freedom / anti-government republicans suddenly want total government control !
The fact is she is not contagious, has tested negative for Ebola and the only reason for the detention now is because some arrogant politician made a policy based on fear (what they do best) with no scientific basis and doesn't want to back down and look like more of a schmuck than he already does.
That's the republican.
The president failed to have clear guidelines or, it seems, anyone in charge of this whole thing so the different agencies have been bumbling along with the rules changing daily. Hardly inspiring condidence.
That's the democrat.
I think both sides have made the US look a little incompetent and overly fearful with this entire affair because they have immediately tried to make it re-blue politics instead of public health.
If someone can be detained because they *may* be dangerous then what about nuts with guns? or political views the government doesn't like?
The danger with this is that is erodes trust in the government which may be needed when there really IS a case of someone sick that needs to have a mandatory quarantine.
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sparrowdown
I think if I got exposed to ebola I would tell all and sundry ( via txt or email, obviously) that I have been exposed,
so out of concern for others I will be at home monitoring my temp and taking note of any new symptoms
for the next twenty one days.
I am almost positive everyone would understand and support that decision.
Where does personal responsibility lie in this.
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Band on the Run
AIDS killed very quickly in the beginning. I remember. A quick death might be much more merciful. Government officials knew since 1976 that Ebola would come here. We should demand a nonpolitical response based on science. Panic will kill far more people than the disease. The problem in NY is that very few people believe the government.
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Simon
Government officials knew since 1976 that Ebola would come here
Really? Americans love conspiracy theories.
I think a more believable explanation is simple incompetence and too much focus on politics vs actually governing.