N.Y. governor changes Ebola quarantine policy

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- Health care workers returning to New York who've had contact with Ebola patients but don't show symptoms can serve a mandatory 21-day quarantine in their homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday night.

This is a change in the recently instituted state policy on health workers who return to the United States from the Ebola zone.

Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had jointly announced a mandatory quarantine policy on Friday. Over the weekend, the Obama administration lobbied the governors to change it.

The temperatures of a asymptomatic health care workers will be checked twice daily. Returning health care workers who show symptoms of the Ebola virus will be transported to hospitals for mandatory quarantine, according to a fact sheet on the new guidelines.

People who return from the Ebola zones but didn't have contact with Ebola patients will be handled on a case-by-case basis, the fact sheet said.

The fact sheet said the state would provide financial assistance to the quarantined health workers if their employers do not.

In New Jersey, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said the Garden State's policy also allows at-home quarantines.

"New Jersey is not changing its quarantine protocol. The protocol is clear that a New Jersey resident with no symptoms, but who has come into contact with someone with Ebola, such as a health care provider, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and quarantined at home," Roberts said. "Nonresidents would be transported to their homes if feasible and, if not, quarantined in New Jersey."

The Obama administration has been urging Cuomo and Christie to reverse their recently enacted policies that require a 21-day quarantine for all health workers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Read more here:

N.Y. governor changes Ebola quarantine policy

Related Posts

Comments are closed.