NEW YORK – New York, New Jersey and Illinois are three states issuing mandatory three week quarantines for aid workers coming out of West Africa.
Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo slightly revised it by allowing those aid workers the option to stay home for 21 days in quarantine.
The Obama administration lobbied for him and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to change it.
Under the rules, temperatures of asymptomatic health care workers will be checked twice daily.
Those who show symptoms of the Ebola virus will be transported to hospitals for mandatory quarantine.
Gov. Cuomo said the mandate isn’t meant to violate rights but to stop Ebola.
“I’ll be asking all local public health districts in the state to accept and administer this protocol. I want the state to have the same protocol no matter where you are in the state. I understand the main point of the fight is to start at the source in West Africa,” he said.
People who return from countries stricken with Ebola who did not have contact with patients will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
If an agency doesn’t pay those quarantined workers to stay home, the government will, said Gov. Cuomo.
