Emergency room physicians are questioning quarantine rules in Illinois regarding healthcare workers exposed to Ebola.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has said healthcare workers that are high-risk for contracting the Ebola virus face a mandatory home quarantine. While the quarantine rule does not apply to healthcare workers who wore protective equipment, physicians, many of whom gathered in Chicago for a conference on Ebola, believe the rule could hinder help to Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa.
Kristi Koenig, who heads a center for disaster medical sciences, says there is no science supporting a mandatory quarantine of healthy doctors and nurses coming back from an Ebola ravaged country.
“Quarantine means to hold somebody and observe them if they’re a potential threat to the public,” she said. “This will likely make people reluctant to go to West Africa and stamp out the outbreak at its source, which is what we need to do.”
The new rules allow returning healthcare workers to self-monitor and report to the health department.
“There’s also a human tendency to want to get excited about things like this and create a big excitement,” Koenig said.
Quinn told reporters Monday that Illinois' quarantine protocol is "common sense" and nobody in Illinois is in quarantine now.
He says he disagrees with the New Jersey approach because those affected should be able to remain home where they'll be more comfortable. Quinn says he's heard from both the White House and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services about Ebola as "a matter of courtesy."
