Monday, October 27, 2014

Bad science

Criticism of the quarantine policy started when Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, slammed the "knee-jerk reaction by politicians" like Christie and the policy over how she was treated during that time in an opinion piece for the Dallas Morning News. "This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated," Hickox said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

Christie had described Christie as "obviously ill." -- Allen McDuffee for The Atlantic
This is ridiculous. It's been repeated many, many times that ebola is transmitted when someone is very ill and producing copious amounts of body fluids (not bowling or riding in Uber taxis), but instead politicians pander to fear and a basic lack of knowledge.

Also, did anyone else note the subtly sexist overtones in Christie's "obviously ill" quote? Maybe he hadn't received an update that Hickox's "fever" was caused by a too-sensitive thermometer and an elevated skin temperature caused by, oh, I don't know, the stress of being quarantined and given scant information why, but that doesn't make it any less patronizing.

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