New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) took a little heat last month when his state put a nurse returning from West Africa in quarantine even though she said — and a doctor reportedly agreed — that she had no symptoms. Christie, with his usual bravado, was unapologetic and he even predicted that his state’s quarantine policy would soon be the national standard.
These days, though, there isn’t much left of that quarantine policy — because thankfully, it seems, nobody has come back from the affected regions in Africa with symptoms of the disease that has killed more than 5,000 people on that continent this year.
Currently, 71 people are being actively monitored after returning from West Africa, Donna Leusner, director of communications at the New Jersey Health Department, told TPM in an email Tuesday.
However, “no one in NJ is under quarantine order,” she said.
Those being monitored are taking their temperature twice daily at home and reporting it to the local health department, Leusner said. The monitoring lasts for 21 days, the maximum incubation period for the Ebola virus, according to health experts.
They “have no restrictions on travel and are permitted to move about freely in the community, including going to work and school,” she said. “These persons are instructed to immediately self-isolate if symptoms begin, and seek medical evaluation at a nearby hospital.”
