Why we need quarantines for those who come from Ebola infected areas.

Yesterday a nurse who had come home from treating Ebola patients decided that she shouldn't have t adhere to a voluntary quarantine.  She state that she was not symptomatic and tested negative for the virus.  Here is the problem  Ebola can take up to 21 days to manifest or test positive for the disease.  Her 21 day period is not over until November 10th.  It is this attitude that will allow Ebola to spread to the general population.


None of the people diagnosed with Ebola in the US thought that they would get it.  They thought that they were safe and yet they traveled on a plane, took a cruise etc and then were diagnosed with the virus. 


This nurse should know better.  Yes having to stay in quarantine for 3 weeks is inconvenient, but for the safety of the public this quarantine should be enforced.  Its the health care workers most at risk for infection.  \


The military feels strongly enough about the safety of the US public and its service members not deployed to infected areas that all those deployed to infected areas have a mandatory 3 week quarantine when they come back.


If the US refuses to bar entrance to those traveling from infected areas then the only rational course is a mandatory 3 week quarantine.  Several of those infected have slipped through the screening process that was meant to protect us.  That tells us the screening process is ineffective. 


True Ebola is one of those diseases that you have to have bodily fluid contact.  But it requires minimal bodily fluid contact such as a sneeze otherwise it would not spread so easily. 


Ebola is a deadly virus that kills 90% of those infected.  We must inconvenience the few to protect the many.  By restricting those who as health workers in the us have come into contact with the virus and those who have been traveling in and around affected areas in Africa we can ensure that no other person in the US is exposed to a virus that is more likely to kill them than not.


Shame on the nurse in Maine who can not see the big picture and only sees how a quarantine would affect her.  If she ultimately proves to not have the virus it is better safe than sorry.  We don't need a deadly worldwide pandemic and quarantines can do their part in preventing it.