US Governors, Army Go Own Way On Ebola Quarantines

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday recommended new restrictions for people at highest risk for coming down with the Ebola virus and symptom monitoring for those at lower risk, but some state governors and even the Army are carving their own paths.

As contradictory state policies proliferate in response to Ebola fears, the CDC's recommendations mark an effort to create a national standard, one that would protect public health without discouraging people from helping fight its spread overseas.

The CDC now says even if people have no symptoms and are not considered contagious they should stay away from commercial transportation or public gatherings if they have been in direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone sick with Ebola - say, by touching their fluids without protective gear or by suffering an injury from a contaminated needle.

Absent that direct contact, simply caring for Ebola patients or traveling in West Africa doesn't warrant quarantine conditions, the public health agency said.

But quarantines are determined state by state in the U.S., and the CDC is empowered only to issue guidelines. And even within the federal government, authorities were improvising Monday: A U.S. Army commander in Italy said he and his troops returning from Liberia would remain in isolation for 21 days, even though he feels they face no risk and show no symptoms. The Army's chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, directed the 21-day controlled monitoring period for all redeploying soldiers returning from the Ebola fight in West Africa, an Army spokeswoman said.

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