EbolaConnecticut issues new Ebola guidelines
Officials in Connecticut have issued new guidelines which require individuals returning from West Africa with no symptoms of Ebola to be quarantined for twenty-one days. Although the guidelines require travelers with no symptoms of Ebola to be quarantined at home, state Health Commissioner Dr. Jewel Mullen recently said that her office would review each quarantine-eligible case before enforcing the measure.
Officials in Connecticut have issued new guidelines which require individuals returning from West Africa with no symptoms of Ebola to be quarantined for twenty-one days. Governor Dannel P. Malloy said last week that travelers from West Africa who are ill “will be sent to a hospital” for isolation and treatment and for those who are not sick, “you will be required to stay at home for twenty-one days and take your temperature twice a day.” During the quarantine, state public health personnel “will contact you twice a day by phone to see how you are doing,” Malloy said.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) has called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to adopt Connecticut’s standards for quarantine and isolation to protect the public from Ebola. “At airports and ports, there should be federal enforcement of quarantine requirements the state has put in place to ensure that men and women who may have been exposed to Ebola do not expose others to the virus,” he said. “At this point, these guidelines are another step in setting minimum standards, but even tougher protocols may be necessary.”
The Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut officials will rely on federal screenings at airports and notifications to the state about who is traveling to Connecticut from Ebola-affected countries, to enforce the quarantine and isolation measures. Although the guidelines require travelers with no symptoms of Ebola to be quarantined at home, state Health Commissioner Dr. Jewel Mullen recently said that her office would review each quarantine-eligible case before enforcing the measure. “We don’t want people to have images of heavy-handed law enforcement here,” Mullen said.
“DPH would review each case and determine, based upon the person’s travel history and potential exposures, the necessary steps to protect the public’s health,” a state Department of Public Health statement read, adding that at a minimum, travelers from West Africa “will be required to report their temperatures twice daily and indicate whether they develop any symptoms of illness.”
Local health officials have been instructed to monitor the health status of quarantined persons for twenty-one days. “DPH will ensure this is being done, using the best public health science to act with an abundance of caution,” state health officials said.
