US Envoy: 'Staggering' Need in Ebola Response | WPN World People News

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is calling attention to the need for a greater response to the Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 5,000 people in West Africa.

Samantha Power posted on Twitter early Monday after spending a day in Guinea that the "scale of need is staggering" and that the "most basic resources will help save lives."

She is on a multi-stop tour this week of the worst-hit countries, including Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Power also highlighted the efforts of those already working in Guinea to treat patients, build treatment facilities and educate people, including Doctors Without Borders and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She participated by video Sunday as President Barack Obama met with his public health and national security advisers to discuss what the White House called "appropriate measure" to contain the spread of domestic Ebola cases.

State quarantine policies relaxed

The governor of New York revised that state’s quarantine policy on healthcare workers who return to the United States after treating Ebola patients in West Africa.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday that medical personnel who show no signs of the potentially fatal virus would be allowed to remain in their homes for a 21-day period, and would be monitored twice daily by other healthcare workers during that time.

Cuomo's revision came just two days after he and Governor Chris Christie of the neighboring state of New Jersey jointly announced a mandatory 21-day quarantine of medical personnel who had returned from working in West Africa. The policy was announced a day after a doctor who treated patients in Guinea became the first person in New York diagnosed with Ebola.

Dr. Craig Spencer was hospitalized a week after his return, during which time he rode the subway and ate at a restaurant.

Shortly after Cuomo's announcement Sunday, a spokesman for Christie released a statement saying New Jersey's policy also allows at-home quarantines.

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who worked in Sierra Leone, became the first person to be quarantined under New Jersey's mandatory policy after she arrived Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport. Hickox told CNN's State of the Union program Sunday that she has tested negative for the virus, and feels as if her "basic human rights have been violated."

The Obama administration and medical experts have criticized the quarantines as excessive. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Sunday that the best way to protect Americans is to stop the Ebola outbreak in Africa. He said one of the best ways to do that is to help health workers who go there, rather than take measures that may discourage them from helping.

The White House said that domestic precautions must be guided by "the best medical science" rather than political considerations.

The virus has killed nearly 5,000 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Source: Voice of America