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

[BellaKos]

209. Snark?

My understanding is that the official CDC protocols have always been that after exposure, one should avoid mass transportation and crowds for 21 days. But yes, you're right. Vinson did receive permission to fly and I had forgotten about that. Even so, I am not clear as to whether she got permission from the lame and obviously sloppy Public Health Dept. in Texas or CDC directly. And even so, the reason she was given permission is that health care workers at that time were considered at *extremely* low risk, because it was assumed that they had the proper protection equipment and that they knew how to use it. Obviously, this was not the case in Texas.

Now, however, there is an element of the unknown in the potential transmission of the virus. And this is evident by the fact that the cameraman does not *know* how he got infected. It's also evident in that we now have five (perhaps more?) health care workers in the US who have contracted the disease -- which historically is an unusually high ratio.

My position is not only a question of exactly how the disease was transmitted among the above health care workers, but there is also a larger element of the unknown inherent in the American health care system. And that is that each state has its own standards and each hospital has its own standards of treatment, protocols, safety, and training, so there is no national standard. Nor is there national oversight.

But the major element of the unknown in this complex, highly variable, and fluid situation is human nature. Health care workers are exposed to patients who are extremely infectious -- that point in the course of the disease when the viral load is at its highest. The public cannot be certain that each worker who returns will be conscientious enough to avoid exposing not just their families and friends, but also the public at large. It is human nature for one to be in denial or to assume that fatigue, headache or other early symptoms of ebola are merely jet lag.

And given that the vast majority of Americans are scientifically illiterate, it is also human nature for people to be afraid of a disease that has a 50% to 70% death rate. This is not the flu. This is a disease that kills more often than not.

So on balance, quarantine is a reasonable solution. It assures the public that the chances of spreading the disease are at a minimum. It's unfortunate if that discourages others who would otherwise volunteer to work in Africa. It's unfortunate that these health care workers are inconvenienced. Too bad about that, but the disease is deadly. That's the reality. Those are the cards we have to play.

And another thing. Would you buy clothes from the bridal shop in Ohio now? I guarantee you that there will be many people in the community who will not, so as Amber Vinson is making her speech after being cleared of ebola, the owner of the bridal shop may be facing bankruptcy.

Would I buy clothes in the bridal shop? Probably because I do understand that Vinson was not infectious before she had a fever. On the other hand, the CDC has stated that the virus is alive and therefore contagious on surfaces for only 20 minutes, or maybe up to 90 minutes, but I have read studies that say that the virus is contagious up to 23 days! under certain conditions. That may be why the planes, the various apartments, the bridal shop, and the bowling alley have been sanitized by the health authorities. Can you think of another reason to go to all that trouble and expense? Again, another unknown.