Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CDC Issues Guidelines For Tracking Ebola Risks Of Health Workers Returning From Africa
Los Angeles Times: CDC Recommends Looser Ebola Monitoring Than State Quarantines For Health Workers
The federal government announced new guidelines Monday for monitoring healthcare workers returning from West Africa that are far less restrictive than the quarantines that some states put in place for aid workers at risk of contracting Ebola. The guidelines call for medical workers at high risk to isolate themselves and those at lower risk to regularly report their temperature to local health officials to see whether symptoms of the virus develop. They are merely suggested practices for state and local officials, who may quarantine as they see fit. (Susman and Parsons, 10/27)
The Washington Post: No Unity Over Ebola Monitoring Of Travelers
The Pentagon announced Monday that Army personnel returning to their home base in Italy from Liberia will be held in quarantine for 21 days — even though none have symptoms of Ebola or were exposed to patients infected with the virus. The military’s policy does not appear to track new guidelines announced Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which called for “high-risk” individuals and health-care workers without any symptoms to be directly monitored by state and local health authorities. Nor do the states have to follow the CDC’s recommendations. (Achenbach, Dennis and Sun, 10/27)
Politico: CDC Outlines Ebola Monitoring Policies
The new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines come after a weekend in which several states, beginning with New York and New Jersey, announced policies of their own, including mandatory quarantines for returning health care workers. Many public health officials say that’s an overreaction that may cause more harm than good. New Jersey, in particular, came under scrutiny for quarantining in a tent a nurse who had returned from working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, one of the three affected West African countries. (Norman, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal: CDC Rejects Mandatory Ebola Quarantines
The new guidelines, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend that people at high risk of developing Ebola voluntarily isolate themselves from others for 21 days. That is less stringent than recent guidelines from New York and New Jersey, which imposed mandatory quarantines on such people and stoked tensions with the White House. (McKay, McCain Nelson and Armour, 10/27)
USA Today: CDC Says People At High Risk For Ebola Should Stay Home
The issue of how to monitor travelers from West Africa -- and other contacts of Ebola patients -- became a matter of national debate Thursday when a New York physician was diagnosed with the disease after working with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea. The doctor, Craig Spencer, had not treated patients since his return but had ridden the subway, gone bowling and gone to a restaurant. He is being treated at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York. (Szabo, 10/27)
News outlets also report on the lines between federal and state authority on issues related to public health quarantines.
The Associated Press: Federal Health Official Fauci: States Have Options
For Americans wondering why President Barack Obama hasn’t forced all states to follow a single, national rule for isolating potential Ebola patients, the White House has a quick retort: Talk to the Founding Fathers. A hodgepodge of state policies, some of which directly contradict Obama’s recommendations, has sowed confusion about what’s really needed to stop Ebola from spreading in the United States. While public health advocates denounce state quarantines as draconian and scientifically baseless, anxious citizens in non-quarantine states are asking whether they’re at greater risk because their governors and the president have adopted a lesser level of caution. (Lederman, 10/28)
Los Angeles Times: Disorder Among States' Ebola Strategies Raises Worries
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines on dealing with travelers from Ebola-stricken regions Monday, but its lack of firm rules left a patchwork of state-by-state strategies that include mandatory quarantines for some travelers. The different rules among states, and the CDC's recommendation of looser monitoring than what is being carried out in several states, highlight what some public health experts said was the problem with the current system. (Susman and Healy, 10/27).
Politico: White House, States Fight Over Power To Quarantine
The White House threw a fit this weekend when two governors defied its Ebola policy and ordered mandatory quarantines of aid workers returning from West Africa. But then Obama officials threw up their arms, suggesting they didn’t have the legal authority to overrule the governors – even though they very well might. (Gerstein, 10/27)
And, in other Ebola coverage -
NPR: Medical Journal To Governors: You're Wrong About Ebola Quarantine
The usually staid New England Journal of Medicine is blasting the decision of some states to quarantine returning Ebola health care workers. In an editorial the NEJM describes the quarantines as unfair, unwise and "more destructive than beneficial." In their words, "We think the governors have it wrong." (Beaubien, 10/27)
NPR: New York's Disease Detectives Hit The Street In Search Of Ebola
A little-seen force has fanned out across New York City intent on stopping the spread of Ebola virus – disease detectives go looking for contacts who might be infected. "They're just really good at finding people," says Denis Nash. He worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New York City Health Department, tracing the spread of HIV and West Nile virus. He says these trained applied epidemiologists are experts at finding almost anybody, with only a vague description. (Mogul, 10/27)
