http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/27/joint-chiefs-call-for-quarantine-troops-returning-from-ebola-zone/Joint Chiefs call for quarantine of troops returning from Ebola zone
Published October 27, 2014FoxNews.com
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that all U.S. troops returning from West Africa undergo a mandatory 21-day quarantine, senior Defense officials told Fox News -- even as the White House fights those very policies in New York and New Jersey.
The recommendation has fallen in the lap of Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. He is deliberating, and no final decision has been made.
"Secretary Hagel has a big problem," one senior U.S. official told Fox News.
If the Pentagon does decide on a 21-day quarantine for all returning personnel, it would represent a major shift in its Ebola response policy. And it presumably would put them at odds with the White House.
"The Obama administration is going to war with New York and New Jersey, but its own military is recommending the same thing," a senior U.S. official told Fox News.
The current plan is only to quarantine those individuals who may come in contact with infected patients.
Defense Department officials have made clear that no personnel are going to be treating infected patients and that the vast majority of the troops in Liberia are logistical experts who are establishing the medical infrastructure for health care workers outside the Department of Defense.
But a growing number of U.S. military personnel are being deployed, and would be affected by any blanket quarantine order. As of Friday, 686 U.S. troops were in West Africa as part of that mission, with hundreds more expected to have arrived over the weekend.
If Hagel accepts the recommendation from the Joint Chiefs, it would put the Defense Department in line with New York and New Jersey, which have faced the ire of the White House for such mandatory quarantine policies for returning health workers.
Amid that pressure, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration on Monday said a health care worker quarantined after she returned from Sierra Leone -- and who threatened a lawsuit -- has been cleared to go home.
The state Department of Health said the patient, Kaci Hickox, has been symptom-free for 24 hours, and "is being discharged" after being evaluated in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also announced late Sunday he had loosened some of the restrictions in the mandatory 21-day Ebola quarantine he had ordered along with Christie this past Friday.
In New Jersey, Hickox, a nurse from Maine, blasted the state, saying she was treated "like a criminal." Hickox tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation, but Christie's administration continued to stand by its policies.
The health department said Monday that the patient was subject to quarantine at first because she had direct exposure to people suffering from Ebola in West Africa. At this point, though, she has requested to return to Maine, and the state says that will be arranged "via a private carrier."
"She will remain subject to New Jersey's mandatory quarantine order while in New Jersey," the department said. "Health officials in Maine have been notified of her arrangements and will make a determination under their own laws on her treatment when she arrives."
The department also stressed that while in isolation, the nurse was given access to "a computer, cell phone, reading material and nourishment of choice."
Christie issued a statement on Sunday that stressed that home confinement would be used for New Jersey residents and others when possible.
Cuomo issued revised guidelines for his state on Sunday.
Under the new guidelines, health workers who have had contact with Ebola patients will be quarantined at home and receive twice-daily monitoring if they have no symptoms. Family members will be allowed to stay. The state will pay for any lost compensation, if they are not paid by a volunteer organization.
Meanwhile, in New York a 5-year-old boy returning from West Africa reportedly was taken to a local hospital Sunday with possible Ebola symptoms. He was reported to have a 103-degree fever.
Earlier Sunday the White House expressed concern about what it called the "unintended consequences" of the mandatory quarantine, telling Fox News that the Obama administration is working on new federal guidelines on returning health care workers exposed to Ebola, realizing the concern among Americans about a potential outbreak on U.S. soil.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that the 21-day quarantines originally imposed in Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York can have the "unintended consequence" of discouraging health care workers from volunteering. "We do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable for them to even volunteer," he told "Fox News Sunday."
Christie told Fox News that he has "great respect" for Fauci but defended his decision to impose the quarantine, saying he has an obligation to protect residents amid Centers for Disease Control guidelines that remain a "moving target."
Virginia also will start actively monitoring travelers from the three West African countries. Last week, Connecticut also quarantined a family of six, along with three others. The family of six was quarantined after TSA flagged them due to their travel to West Africa.
