Majority: Quarantine Ebola healthcare workers

The vast majority of Americans support mandatory quarantines for all returning healthcare workers who came into contact with Ebola patients, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Seventy-one percent of those surveyed support a quarantine, even for those who haven’t developed any symptoms. There’s an evident partisan split on the issue: 85 percent of Republicans approve of a quarantine compared to 65 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of independents. Seniors and those with lower levels of education are also much more likely to support the quarantine measures.

{mosads}The results were published as some governors, most notably Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.), are struggling to implement quarantines against the will of the White House and even some healthcare workers themselves, who view the measures as unnecessary and worry they could deter some healthcare workers from traveling to West Africa to fight the spread of the virus.

Christie was involved in a high-profile dispute with nurse Kaci Hickox who returned to Newark airport after treating patients in Sierra Leone. Officials initially believed that she had symptoms and she was placed in quarantine. After threatening legal action, she was allowed to return to her home in Maine.

A court ruling undercut Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s attempt at another quarantine, but Hickox said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that she’ll compromise and avoid public areas for 21 days, which is the incubation period of the virus. If she remains symptom-free until then, there will be no risk that she caught the virus.