By Arielle Levin Becker
Connecticut will require all travelers from the West African countries most affected by the Ebola virus to be actively monitored, require those who meet certain risk factors to be quarantined, and will decide each case individually, according to a statement released by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office Monday night.
The stated policy appears less stringent than one the Malloy administration issued Oct. 16, which said all asymptomatic people who come to Connecticut from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea, or who have been in contact with someone with Ebola, would be quarantined. But an administration spokesman said the procedures outlined Monday are in line with what the state has implemented in the past week. Public health officials said last week that they could use discretion in handling individual cases.
State policies for addressing people possibly exposed to the deadly virus have received significant scrutiny in recent days following the diagnosis of Ebola in a New York City physician who had recently returned from volunteering in Guinea with the group Doctors Without Borders.
Soon after, the governors of New York and New Jersey announced mandatory quarantine policies for returning medical workers last week, triggering a backlash from public health experts.They warned that mandatory quarantines for medical providers showing no symptoms were not scientifically justified and could reduce the willingness of health care workers to volunteer to fight the outbreak in West Africa.
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