The American Civil Liberties Union, along with Doctors Without Borders, a group working to combat the spread of Ebola, have both come out condemning a governmental overreaction to the recent cases in the U.S. Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, said science needs to be the determining factor when considering if certain measures constitute an infringement on civil liberty.
“The government’s response to Ebola needs to be driven by sound medical science, not fear …this is not only a matter of respecting civil liberties–it is a vital part of any effective response to the disease," Romero said in a statement. "Public health experts say that measures like mandatory quarantine of people exhibiting no symptoms of Ebola will deter genuinely sick people who fear quarantine from seeking treatment, while also discouraging caregivers and first responders from helping sick patients who need their assistance. The ACLU recognizes that when a threat to public health becomes serious enough, it may be necessary to infringe on people’s rights, but those infringements should be based on medical necessity, not politics.”
Alison Beyea, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine addressed Kaci Hickox, who was working with Doctors Without Borders to contain the disease in Africa and has been at the heart of a contentious debate about what are appropriate safety guidelines, including quarantine, upon her return to the U.S.
President Obama’s administration and various governors have communicated different priorities with respect to travel bans, quarantines and other protocol regarding those who have been in contact with Ebola patients.
"Kaci Hickox is a trained medical professional complying with medical guidelines, including those laid out in the New England Journal of Medicine," Beyea said. "She shows no symptoms and is carefully monitoring her health. She poses neither a clear nor imminent threat to public safety. While there are situations where protecting public health would justify limits on civil liberties, this isn't one of them."
"In times like this, it is of utmost importance that the government remain transparent and even-handed and avoid overreaction. Extreme measures like mandatory quarantines and police intervention raise serious concerns about government overreach, not to mention frighten the public," she continued. "This is a public health situation and our response should be guided by sound medical science, not by fear."
Doctors Without Borders officials release a statement condemning a blanket quarantine of all those returning from Ebola-affected countries, and even went as far as calling such a measure counterproductive. Jay Stanley, ACLU Senior Policy Analyst, posited that some elected officials are too concerned with proving their “Ebola-fighting bona fides” and are not worried enough about sound policy.
He expressed dissatisfaction with the legality of a full-on travel ban as an Ebola-fighting tactic. “Proposals to close the border to all travelers from affected nations are not a scientifically and medically legitimate exercise of government power and therefore would be arbitrary and discriminatory whether applied to citizens or non-citizens,” he wrote.
However, the court of public opinion isn’t quite the same as the legal and medical professionals dealing with the issue first hand, and even those professionals have expressed an array of opinions. A Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College poll shows an overwhelming 82% of New Yorkers, for example, support placing a 21-day quarantine on those who have come into contact with an Ebola patient, regardless of if they are exhibiting symptoms or not.
Author and physician Tom Combs, has gone on record on numerous occasions supporting the need to contain the spread of the virus, according to his website. After American healthcare workers in Dallas were infected, Combs said: "The nurses would not have been infected if an appropriate quarantine or flight restriction had been in place. I cannot understand why an aggressive, medically sound quarantine has not been enacted. Containment is the mandatory first step to prevent spread of the infection. No potentially infected individual should fly out of West Africa to anywhere. What has happened is tragic."