Steve Chapman: Ebola Quarantines Ignore Experience and Trample Freedom


There is an assumption that health care workers returning from Ebola zones are too irresponsible to avoid infecting others. But groups that work in these areas know better than anyone how to avoid getting or giving the disease.
Ebola has been around since 1976, and Doctors Without Borders (which goes by the French acronym MSF) has a lot of experience on the front lines. Until this year's outbreak, the biggest ever, it had never had an international staff member infected. Only three have contracted the virus this time. None has spread it to other people.
Nor is any likely to, writes Steve Chapman.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?