Three states are quarantining travelers coming from Ebola stricken countries. -Reuters.

A temperature check for a traveler who had been to an Ebola stricken country. -Reuters

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Illinois have all imposed mandatory 21 day quarantines for all travelers who have been to the Ebola stricken countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guiana who may have come in contact with Ebola patients. -Reuters. The new quarantines come after another aid worker, Dr. Craig Spencer, came down with Ebola after spending several days out in the public. The three airports effected will be JFK in New York, Newark Liberty in New Jersey, and O'Hare in Illinois. Critics say that the quarantines are unnecessary and may deter volunteers from fighting Ebola in Africa. Doctors without borders criticized the policy and criticized the treatment of the first person detained under the new policy, a U.S. nurse named Kaci Hickox. Hickox tested negative for Ebola but did have a fever. 

My Comment:

This action is long overdue. It was clear that the CDC and the federal government wasn't going to do much if anything to stop people from coming here with the disease so these governors had to act. I commend governors Quinn, Christie and Cuomo for there actions, which is something I will rarely do on this blog since I am not a fan of any of them. I know the CDC just released regulations that state that anyone that comes from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guiana will be "monitored" but that isn't enough when we just had a case where a guy who was being monitored, Dr. Spencer, didn't report in right away the second he felt ill. Still, I would feel better if the governors of Virginia and Georgia, the two other states where people can come from Ebola stricken countries, would adopt these quarantines. 

As for the Doctors Without Borders complaints, I'm not convinced. If you really want to help people with Ebola then I'm all for it. But of all people the doctors and nurses that have treated patients with Ebola should understand how dangerous the disease is and should do everything in their power to keep anyone else from being infected. If I was a returning volunteer I would quarantine myself for 21 days no matter what. I wouldn't leave the house. I couldn't live with myself if I exposed anyone else to the disease. 

Also, it isn't directly related to this article but I thought I should mention that the WHO is saying that there are more then 10,000 people infected with the disease. As always, remember that Ebola is being vastly under-reported due to both the isolation of some of the countries and the fact that so many people in charge of processing and collecting these numbers are sick or dead. The real number is probably between double and 2.5 times more then the reported numbers. So that means that anywhere between 20,000 and 25,000 people are sick and 10,000 to 15,000 have died. As we chase a couple of cases in the United States it is important to note that Ebola is killing West Africa as sure as any war would.