Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


               Obama: Ebola Quarantines Must Be Based on Science

   by VOA News

   U.S. President Barack Obama says the decision to quarantine health
   workers who had direct contact with Ebola patients should be based on
   science, nor fear.

   The White House was commenting on the case of a nurse in Maine,  who is
   defying a mandatory 21-day quarantine after treating Ebola patients in
   Sierra Leone.

   Kaci Hickox says she has no symptoms, has tested negative for Ebola,
   and says the quarantine violates her civil rights. She refused to
   comply with the state's order by going on a bicycle ride with her
   boyfriend Thursday.

   Twenty-one days is the Ebola incubation period, and Maine officials say
   they will go to court to enforce the quarantine. Governor Paul LePage
   says he will use all his legal authority to force Hickox to comply.

   The governor's office says negotiations to allow her to go for walks
   and bike rides but stay away from public places have failed.

   A White House spokesman says the president believes it is up to Maine
   and other states to decide on quarantine policies. But the president
   has said such polices should be sensible and based on science, not
   fear.

   Also Thursday, the World Bank pledged $100 million to help recruit more
   foreign health care workers to treat Ebola patients in West Africa.

   World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Thursday the additional aid,
   along with $400 million already sent to West Africa, "can help be a
   catalyst for a rapid surge" of additional health workers.

   U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told a group of
   European leaders in Brussels Thursday that the world has to
   dig deeper" to fight Ebola, calling it the greatest public health
   crisis ever. Power said no one can afford to sit on the sidelines.

   "This is a crisis that is so vast, with needs so great, with potential
   consequences so dire, that no country can afford to stand on the
   sidelines. A few are doing a lot, but a lot are doing very little or
   nothing at all. It is well past time to join what is a historic,
   ground-breaking, life-saving mission. A noble mission."

   Power came to Brussels from West Africa where Ebola has killed nearly
   5,000 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-ebola-quarantines-must-be-based
   -on-science/2502649.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-ebola-quarantines-must-be-based-on-science/2502649.html