Why can't these health care workers who've been exposed to Ebola just wait 21 days?

[Ms. Toad]

66. Because that worked so well with Vinson and Spencer

2 of the 3 cases of Ebola among medical personnel known to be exposed to Ebola. Both Spencer and Vinson ignored the early symptom of fatigue - a symptom significant and persistent enough that both of them ultimately reported it once they were confirmed to have Ebola.

That symptom should have caused them to self-quarantine themselves until it vanished or was proven not to be Ebola. But it didn't. It is likely that no one was exposed during the 3 days that each of them wandered around after experiencing that first symptom - because their viral load was likely minimal at that time. But the risk was not zero, as evidenced by the money we are now spending monitoring 160+ people for 21 days.

This new nurse shouldn't be locked away for 21 days, but she should stay away from close contact with large quantities of people, and self-monitoring should be enforced by spot checking, daily reporting of symptoms, and self (or forced) quarantine once ANY symptoms appear until the symptoms are proven not to be caused by Ebola.

I would have expected to be able to trust medical personnel, particularly those with first hand experience working with Ebola, but 66% failure is not a risk that is acceptable.