Let’s make quarantine so wonderful…
…they’ll be looking forward to it, not dreading it.
This is the sort of thing I’ve been suggesting:
What’s needed is a quarantine so luxurious that health care workers will look forward to their 21 day quarantine, or at least not dread it. What if the federal government took over an isolated resort, say on the Gulf Coast. Stocked it with finest foods and wines in the land, and the best films and recreation and wireless Internet access and volunteer musical acts ”” a French widow in every room, as a friend of mine used to say, equivalent to a very expensive vacation, available for free to any returning volunteer. The only catch is they couldn’t leave for 21 days. (They could bring their spouses and partners, if they wanted ”“but then the spouses couldn’t leave either.)
As for the money involved, seems to me it would be cheaper than all the contact tracing and disinfecting that would otherwise need to be undertaken. There is a problem, though—as this commenter points out, the quarantined would have to be quarantined from each other for the duration, as well. Then there’s the waste disposal problem.
And what of the staff? Would they wear full hazmat gear? Or would it all be done like this?:
Meanwhile, Kaci Hickox is back in Maine. But it appears, unlike what I read yesterday, that her quarantine there will be voluntary rather than mandatory:
In Maine, the state also said there would be a quarantine for Hickox. At first, the quarantine was made to sound as if it was mandatory, but the state later said it was voluntary.
Gov. Paul LePage’s spokeswoman said that the administration will take “appropriate action” if Hickox doesn’t comply with the in-home voluntary quarantine. But she declined say what that meant.
So, it’s still confusion all around.
A caller on Rush today suggested that a quarantine is a very small sacrifice to ask given the demands we place on the young men and women in the military. I would agree.
Another one for the ‘getting it good and hard’ file:
Obama plans to bring non-citizens to US for Ebola treatment
My pitch: Fat Farms in the Southwest.
The weather is terrific at this time. They are ALREADY laid out for health oriented living — and normally hold guests for weeks and months at a time.
They are also, typically, set apart on big open spreads, plenty of outdoor living near to hand.
True solo isolation may not be practical, but I can well imagine clusters of similarly situated souls waiting out quarantine together. They’d just — generally — keep their distance.
That’s a LOT easier to do on a fat farm — with bungalow style rooms — where one can avoid being cramped in — yet still maintain separation.
There would be a 100,000 new cases of Ebola per week in Chicago alone, if it were to happen.