Ebola panic: 80 percent of Americans want quarantines
CBS News poll: Travelers returning from West Africa should be quarantined, most say
In another sign panic over Ebola is peaking, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe travelers returning to the United States from West Africa should be quarantined until it is determined they are Ebola-free, a new CBS News poll finds.
According to the poll, conducted Oct. 23-27, 80 percent of Americans support mandatory quarantines for U.S. citizens and legal residents arriving from West Africa. Just 17 percent said they believe those without symptoms should be allowed to move freely.
And 27 percent of Americans believe West Africans should be banned from traveling to the United States until the Ebola epidemic is contained.
There have been more than 10,000 reported cases of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone since March, according to the World Health Organization, and 4,912 deaths associated with the virus.
The poll comes amid a debate between federal and state officials over how to deal with health workers returning to the United States from the Ebola-ravaged region.
Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced a 21-day mandatory quarantine for all health workers returning from West Africa after it was revealed that a New York City doctor diagnosed with Ebola had taken the subway, visited restaurants, and gone bowling hours before he tested positive. The doctor, Craig Spencer, is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital Center, where he listed in serious but stable condition.
The New York Post reported on Wednesday that Spencer initially lied to authorities about his whereabouts after his arrival from West Africa. He first said he had self-quarantined himself. A review of his MetroCard statement found he had actually been moving around the city.
Kaci Hickox, a 33-year-old nurse who was forcibly quarantined in New Jersey after returning from Liberia, complained about “inhumane” conditions in her isolation unit, claiming Christie was infringing on her civil liberties.
Hickox tested negative for Ebola and was discharged to her home state of Maine, where officials said on Wednesday they will seek legal authority to forcibly quarantine her. Hickok said she will fight any court-ordered quarantine.
Meanwhile, Christie defended the need for a mandatory quarantine in his state.
“The members of the American public believe it is common sense, and we are not moving an inch," Christie said on the "Today" show. "Our policy hasn’t changed, and our policy will not change.”
According to the CBS News poll, 56 percent of Americans say the federal government is not adequately prepared to deal with an outbreak of Ebola in the United States — one they believe is coming. Sixty-one percent of Americans "are at least somewhat concerned" that there will be a large outbreak of Ebola inside the United States within the next 12 months, the poll found.
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