The pseudonym "Philo Vaihinger" has been abandoned. All posts have been and are written by me, Joseph Auclair.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

When the White House won't step up

NY, NJ to Require Quarantine After Ebola Contact

Quarantine and public health are within the power of the states.

Interestingly, there is nothing in the constitution granting such powers to the federal government, and nobody at all has raised that as an objection to federal intervention in the matter.

Republicans, really the biggest constitutional hypocrites, want even more federal control.

But they will settle for governors stepping up and will even trumpet this as further proof of Obama's feckless weakness.

"It's too serious a situation to leave it to the honor system of compliance," Cuomo says. 

Couldn't agree more; said so days ago.

Any medical personnel who have treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, Guinea, or Liberia "will be automatically quarantined," says Dr. Howard Zucker, acting New York state health commissioner. 

An automatic three-week quarantine makes sense for anyone "with a clear exposure" to Ebola, says the former head of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. 

And it won't be long before that gets pushed to a month, I hope.

Twelve percent of those infected take more than 21 days to show symptoms.

That's just not good enough.

But aid organizations [Doctors Without Borders, Samaritan's Purse, and the like. PV.] warn that many health care volunteers won't go to Ebola hot zones if they know they'll be confined to their homes for three weeks after they get back.

Maybe so.

But if it's us or them I side with us.

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