By Judy Chan, MPH

It is unconscionable that politicians are allowed to create their own laws without knowledge and expert counsel. Quarantining the nurse, Kaci Hickox, who returned from West Africa after treating Ebola patients was a crime. It was inexcusable and not supported by medical facts. She was treated like a criminal. The New Jersey governor ignored the medical facts and evidence of the absence of symptoms to call her “clearly” sick. It’s hard to believe that any public health or healthcare expert stood behind him in what he decided for the nurse. Until she threatened a lawsuit, she was Prisonjailed in a tent outside of a hospital with a porta-potty. Campers have better conditions. Why?

Politicians do this because they want to get in the spotlight and claim that they are doing something for the public good. It’s not right to play on the fears of the public. Instead, they should be educating the public and calm their fears by supporting the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization. This is where the experts in infectious diseases are, not in governors’ offices.

Infectious disease experts study diseases over years to determine how diseases are transmitted between humans or animals as well the stages of disease including when they are contagious.  Ebola is well documented and it is only contagious when individuals have symptoms and spread through contact with bodily fluids. An individual who was in close contact with Ebola patients may develop symptoms in 21 days. An asymptomatic individual is not contagious. But because politicians and news media don’t believe the science, they keep questioning it and decide that a quarantine of travelers is required overriding the doctors and epidemiologists who do know.

Instead of issuing quarantines, states will be more effective addressing Ebola fears by putting money into ensuring that hospitals are truly prepared for Ebola patients unlike the Dallas hospital. If the Dallas hospital had implemented the WHO and CDC guidelines, the two nurses would not have become infected. State health departments and governors should make sure that hospitals are capable of recognizing Ebola symptoms, have a protocol in place for suspected cases, possess proper protective gear, and an experienced person to train in the steps to don and remove contagious gear.

The best way to control Ebola is to wipe it out at the source, West Africa. We are fortunate that there are healthcare workers who are willing to risk their lives to help the victims battle this high mortality disease. Along with the treatment centers being built by the U.S. military in conjunction with other countries, healthcare workers are the frontline of the Ebola battle. When these volunteers return, they should be welcomed and thanked—not treated as criminals. They are the world’s hope for containing Ebola’s spread. Quarantining these disease fighters for 21 days when they return so they cannot return to their jobs or have contact with family and friends is cruel. It is not that different from putting prison inmates in solitary confinement, as Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture, told the UN General Assembly in 2011; that solitary confinement “can amount to torture.”

The healthcare workers are experts in recognizing symptoms because they are trained prior to departure and have first-hand experience when they return. They know better than anyone else if they start to feel the symptoms that indicate they have become contagious. These brave individuals travel far to combat Ebola at the heart and are surrounded by ill people in countries that don’t have the same sanitation conditions as the U.S. It is absurd to think that the doctor in New York spread Ebola when he was on the subway or in public places because he did not meet the required criterion for being contagious—exhibiting symptoms.

While we sit in our comfy homes away from the dangers of under-developed countries, do we really believe that these brave and caring healthcare workers want to come back home and infect their loved ones and everyone else?

We cannot allow politicians to instill and promote fear that is manufactured and contrary to science. We should treat healthcare workers as saviors.

We need to quarantine our fears of Ebola, not our protectors.