Quarantine inconsistency on health care workers

The returning Ebola nurse that Christie had thrown into isolation against her will was released to return to her home in Maine after she showed no signs of infection.   But the Maine governor insists that she remain inside her house for the full 21 days;   she says she won't;  the state is getting a court order to force her -- and there will be a showdown in court next week over constitutional rights    She says she is fighting it not just for herself but for the larger question involving all health care workers who will be returning from West Africa.

Here's the radical inconsistency, pointed out last night by MSNBC's Laurence O'Donnell:   There are dozens of health care workers tending to the one patient in New York's Bellvue Hospital, who are allowed to go home each night -- in New York and New Jersey -- with no restrictions other than monitoring themselves for symptoms.   The same is true for those who have worked with Ebola patients here at Emory and in the hospitals in South Dakota and at the NIH.

What is the justification for treating those returning from Africa any differently from those who are working with Ebola patients -- and continuing to do so on a daily basis -- here at home?   I can see none.

This inconsistency makes even more of a mockery of the hasty, unnecessary policies thrown into place by political, not medical, decisions.

Ralph