Posted on 11/03/2014 2:36:40 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Nicole Colson reports on the stand that nurse Kaci Hickox has taken against the racist scaremongering of U.S. politicians in response to the Ebola crisis.
KACI HICKOX went on a bike ride with her boyfriend last week--and it earned her national media attention.
This "radical" act was a principled stand by Hickox--a nurse who recently returned from Sierra Leone, where she worked with Ebola patients as part of a team with the international medical group Doctors Without Borders--against the irrational and unproductive policies of U.S. officials regarding the Ebola epidemic.
Hickox has been speaking out since her return to the U.S. on October 25. Upon arriving in New Jersey, she was placed in an involuntary quarantine after a temperature scan of her forehead--after waiting three hours at the airport--read slightly higher than normal. This is a common issue with such scanners, which don't give an accurate reading of body temperature.
In fact, Hickox did not have a fever--or any symptoms of Ebola. But that didn't stop officials from "escorting" her to University Hospital in Newark and insisting on punitive quarantine policies.
Despite having no symptoms, Hickox was initially forced to stay in an unheated tent inside the hospital, with a box for a toilet and no shower facilities. "It is not the recommendation of public health and medical experts at this point." Hickox told CNN. "To make me stay for 21 days...to put me through this emotional and physical stress is completely unacceptable."
In an essay published by the Dallas Morning News after she was first quarantined, Hickox put the hysterical response of U.S. officials into perspective by referencing the devastation that Ebola has caused in Western Africa:
I sat alone in the isolation tent and thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?
I recalled my last night at the Ebola management center in Sierra Leone. I was called in at midnight because a 10-year-old girl was having seizures. I coaxed crushed tablets of Tylenol and an anti-seizure medicine into her mouth as her body jolted in the bed.
It was the hardest night of my life. I watched a young girl die in a tent, away from her family.
With few resources and no treatment for Ebola, we tried to offer our patients dignity and humanity in the face of their immense suffering.
The epidemic continues to ravage West Africa. Recently, the World Health Organization announced that as many as 15,000 people have died from Ebola. We need more health care workers to help fight the epidemic in West Africa. The U.S. must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity.
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IT WAS only after threatening to sue to the state of New Jersey that Hickox was finally allowed to leave the hospital and return to her home in Maine--but not before New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sounded off. Christie made it sound as though Hickox was an ingrate for not wanting to be locked away for three weeks in a hospital, despite displaying zero symptoms.
"There's been all kinds of malarkey about this," Christie told reporters after being informed that Hickox was contemplating a lawsuit. "She was inside the hospital in a climate-controlled area with access to her cell phone, access to the Internet, and takeout food from the best restaurants in Newark."
Christie later called Hickox "obviously ill." Contrary to Dr. Christie's diagnosis, however, Hickox tested negative for the virus and had no symptoms of the disease while in quarantine. "If [Christie] knew anything about Ebola," Hickox said, "he would know that asymptomatic people are not infectious."
On MSNBC, Hickox added, "When Governor Christie stated that it was an abundance of caution--which is his reasoning for putting health care workers in a sort of quarantine for three weeks--it was really an abundance of politics. And I think all of the scientific and medical and public health community agrees with me on that statement."
Christie joined New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in calling for a mandatory 21-day quarantine of any medical worker returning from Africa who's had contact with an Ebola patient. Govs. Pat Quinn of Illinois and Rick Scott of Florida issued similar quarantine orders.
However, both Christie and Cuomo were forced to relax their policies somewhat after criticism from pubic health officials and members of the Obama administration, including Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, who called mandatory 21-day quarantines "a little bit draconian."
In reality, policies like these have the potential to make the Ebola epidemic worse by discouraging medical workers from traveling to Africa and by creating an incentive for returning health care workers to fly into other states in an effort to avoid mandatory quarantines. As New York nurse Sean Petty explained:
You're very unlikely to be able to spread the disease even when you start getting symptoms. They also haven't thought it through. If you quarantine every health care worker that's treated Ebola patients, then you have to quarantine every nurse and doctor that's treating Craig Spencer right now at Bellevue Hospital. There are 24 different nurses per day who are treating Dr. Spencer. Do all of them need to be quarantined for 21 days? Yes or no?
It's unnecessary and impractical, and has more to do with political pandering than real public health care policy and it's a shame. Also, if you have different policies in different states, than people will fly into other states to escape the quarantine and take themselves off the grid. It's a recipe for disaster.
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AFTER FINALLY being allowed to return home to Maine, Hickox faced another quarantine order in that state. She pointed out that there was zero scientific rationale for officials to force her to stay in her home for three weeks, since Ebola is only contagious when people are symptomatic. Hickox said that the state's attempt to force her to stay in her home for three weeks wasn't just unnecessary fear-mongering, but illegal.
A Maine judge agreed, ruling on October 31 that the state couldn't quarantine Hickox against her will, but that she must submit to "direct active monitoring," coordinate travel with public health officials and immediately notify health authorities should symptoms appear--all of which she has been willing to do.
That didn't stop Maine Gov. Paul LePage from further smearing Hickox following the court ruling, telling reporters, "I don't trust her."
Such scapegoating is wholly unproductive when it comes to fighting Ebola in the U.S.--where so far, nurses Nina Pham and Amber Vinson have been the only people to contract the disease inside the country.
The only person currently testing positive for Ebola in the U.S., Dr. Craig Spencer, began showing symptoms in New York City after returning from treating patients in Guinea. The media wasted no time in whipping up a frenzy over the fact that Spencer had gone bowling and taken the subway.
This panicked reaction only increases the likelihood that health care workers might be discouraged from traveling to West Africa to help contain the epidemic there--where more than 5,000 have died and thousands more remain at risk.
That's why, according to Petty, Hickox should be celebrated as a hero several times over for the stand she has taken:
First, a hero for risking her life to try to fight a disease devastating one of the poorest places in the world. Second, a hero for fighting Cuomo and Christie and getting them to back down on their overzealous and idiotic quarantine order. Third, a hero for showing the world that there shouldn't be anything to be afraid of--which, among other things, may help re-inspire health care workers to go to West Africa and try to put an end to this madness.
Acknowledging the health care workers fighting the epidemic in West Africa--and stating that she plans on eventually returning to Africa to continue working against the disease--Hickox told reporters after her court victory, "They are why I'm here. I hope that one day, I can meet some of them at the airport and give them a big hug and let them know that we're in this together...This is important day for public health."
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IN THE U.S., while the risk of catching Ebola remains vastly smaller than dying of the flu or contracting tuberculosis, the politicians' hysteria has already led to some ugly incidents of racism.
In New Burlington, N.J., two school children were initially kept from attending Howard Yocum Elementary School because they come from Rwanda--a country more than 2,000 miles away from the closest country with an Ebola outbreak.
In the Bronx, two young Senegalese boys were repeatedly taunted with chants about Ebola on the playground of their middle school before being physically attacked on October 25. And in Nazareth, Pa., 16-year-old Ibrahim Toumkara was taunted with chants of "Ebola" during a soccer match--and was thrown out of the match for fighting with one of the players who was taunting him.
The Washington Post recently reported that some West Africans have faced ostracism because of their countries of origin, with people refusing to shake their hands and bosses "recommending" in some cases that people not report to work.
"If I'm on the Metro, I don't talk," Alphonso Toweh, a Liberian immigrant, told the Post. "If I'm on the bus, I don't talk. If people hear the accent, they think you are Liberian, then you have Ebola, which is not the case. Not all Liberians have Ebola."
At a recent rally of Philadelphia's Liberian, Guinean, and Sierra Leonean communities called "Walk to Make a Difference: Operation Crush Ebola," Prince Kweh, a Liberian, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "At the airport, on the train, on the trolley, people don't sit close to you. We want to send a message that we are not a virus, we are individuals."
According to Petty, the focus by the media and politicians on the supposed threat to the public in the U.S. has overshadowed actual efforts to fight the disease:
I think there's no question that the most effective public health response to this crisis is to end Ebola in Africa. The targeting and scapegoating of health care workers may have done irreparable damage to that effort. There's also the problem of undermining the actual science. When governors of states make policy that isn't backed up by science, they undermine the public's ability to validate solid information.
Basically, Cuomo, Christie and LePage are saying, "Yes, we know the CDC says they can't spread the disease, but a quarantine is necessary just in case." That's fear-mongering and creating panic.
As Hickox told reporters following her court victory:
I know that Ebola is a scary disease. I have seen it face to face. I know we are nowhere near winning this battle. We'll only win this battle as we continue this discussion, as we gain a better collective understanding about Ebola and public health, as we overcome the fear and, most importantly, as we end the outbreak that is still ongoing in West Africa today.
I won’t read any filth from the socialist workers party. We should all know where they stand with the destruction of America
I didn’t excerpt & link so you’re not giving them any hits,
I wish they would stop calling her nurse, she isn’t.
Honey....Tell it to Craig Stevens.
Had to hunt for the part about “racist” behavior. Supposedly, the politicians “hysteria” regarding containing ebola led school children to taunt two Senegalese children, caused people traveling from Africa from a region distant to Sierra Leone and other ebola hotspots to be detained, and something about a sporting event where some people chanted “ebola’ at the foreign players. Something like that. I still don’t see hysteria or racism.
Ah, yes - - the collective.
And still no one can tell me for what benefit we take this risk.
Apparently, Ebola-for-all has become a big lefty cause. They don’t think it’s fair that Africa has it, and evidently they claim that it’s “racist” of us not to want to be exposed to it. That’s Obama’s feeling, and they’re just expressing their master’s wishes.
Pray tell, Kaci, where will you be when/if you become symptomatic, huh? Not inside a Level 4 containment unit but in the middle of Maine. 13% don't get the initial fever and 18% don't go hemorrhagic, so explain to me again about when exactly it is that someone becomes contagious.
That is my understanding, too. She is a "health care administrator/researcher, right? Do you have a link or other documentation?
Once again, all references to Hickox must lead back to and slam Christie. This is about Christie, not e-bola.
I personally don’t believe any drama queen bs anymore written by a propagandist.
She’s a hysterical jerk. She had a fever. She was with a young girl who died after she shoved crushed meds down the girl’s throat(viral load very high).
I think that puts her into a higher category of risk according to the guidelines, and it was appropriate to isolate her at least long enough to get a couple of tests over 72 hrs.
Quarantine others-yes. That’s why Ebola patients should be taken care of at the special centers, so regular health care workers are available and not risking exposure.
If I said what I really feel about this “nurse”, I’d probably be banned.
If anyone sees Kaci, or a person being monitored, with the Hiccups, consider that you may be in the immediate vicinity of a symptomatic ebola carrier:
A link to this thread has been posted on the Ebola Surveillance Thread
Thanks for the ping!
What "race" is a virus?
If we're going to break it down that way, I'm for the Human Race surviving, and the virus going down. I guess that makes me "racist".
(rolls eyes)
You’re Welcome, Alamo-Girl!
The judge has made the ruling and this is how it will stand...
The judge thinks everyone else is confused — but seem he has no idea what a quarantine is issued for... Not AFTER someone shows symptoms - but BEFORE they do so as not to have people exposed at the unknown time of eruption of symptoms and infectiousness ... A quarantine is issued to keep people isolated because of their prior exposure and a statistical likelihood they they can and maybe will present symptoms whether they are present or not at the time of quarantine...
If she shows up with symptoms tomorrow morning and then had the ability to infect others - you cannot put the genie back in the bottle... She would potentially infect others while having coffee at the local cafe — a little projectile vomiting anyone with your donuts? Until she passes at least the 21 days period of average incubation - as with Dr. Spencer she is capable of becoming symptomatic and infectious in an hours time... The Judge is powerful and ignorant of science and medicine.... while claiming everyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.
Political Correctness is a disease nearly as bad as Ebola - because when applied in the wrong situation it can well kill people.
Judge rejects Ebola quarantine for nurse
In a case that has come to encapsulate the clash in the U.S. between personal freedom and fear of Ebola, Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere ruled that Hickox must continue daily monitoring of her health but said there is no need to isolate her or restrict her movements because she has no symptoms and is therefore not contagious.
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