New York and New Jersey announce Ebola quarantine measures

last updated 8 January 2015

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Friday announced a new set of 21-day quarantine programs "for all doctors and other arriving travelers who have had contact with Ebola victims in West Africa," the Associated Press reports.

Dr. Howard Zucker, acting New York state health commissioner, said that any medical personnel who have treated Ebola patients in the three Ebola-ravaged West African countries — Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia — "will be automatically quarantined."Cuomo said anyone arriving from the three countries will be questioned at the airport about their contact with Ebola patients. [AP]

The announcement comes after the news on Thursday regarding Dr. Craig Spencer, who became the first diagnosed Ebola case in New York City after he returned from treating Ebola patients in Africa, and in light of the information that he had been out and about in the city on the night before his diagnosis. The city has since quarantined his fiancée and two friends, though this is a precautionary measure as they have not yet shown any symptoms.