Via Reuters: U.S. quarantines 'chilling' Ebola fight in West Africa -MSF. Excerpt:
Mandatory quarantines ordered by some U.S. states for doctors and nurses returning from West Africa's Ebola outbreak are creating a "chilling effect" on aid work there, the humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday.
In response to questions from Reuters, the group said it was discussing whether to shorten some assignments as a result of restrictions imposed by several states since one of its American doctors, Craig Spencer, was hospitalized in New York City last week with the virus.
"There is rising anxiety and confusion among MSF staff members in the field over what they may face when they return home upon completion of their assignments in West Africa," Sophie Delaunay, executive director of Doctors Without Borders in the United States, said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF, is one of the main aid groups working in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed nearly 5,000 people.
Some MSF workers have been delaying their returns to the United States and are staying in Europe for 21 days, Ebola's maximum incubation period, "in order to avoid facing rising stigmatization at home and possible quarantine," Delaunay said.
As a result, MSF is discussing whether to shorten some Ebola assignments from their current duration of four to six weeks. Aid workers typically begin and end their assignments in Brussels, the Belgian capital, a spokesman said.
"Some people are being discouraged by their families from returning to the field," Delaunay said.
The governors of New York and New Jersey announced strict new screening rules at airports last Friday, including mandatory 21-day quarantines for people who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa. People may be quarantined in their homes in some cases.
Last weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama's administration criticized the quarantining of healthy people as "not grounded in science," echoing criticisms from public health experts.
Delaunay's comments on Thursday are the most substantive criticism of the rules since they were announced, suggesting they are eroding MSF's manpower and forcing American workers into temporary exile.
MSF says the policies have also created a misperception that healthcare workers are endangering the public, even though a person who does not have symptoms cannot spread the virus.
