Veruca Versus the Governor

by Kim D.

When Dr. Craig Spencer returned from Guinea and self-quarantined, his intuitive doctor's judgement told him that it was perfectly fine to jog in the park, ride on the subway, dine at restaurants, and bowl with friends in New York City. When he came back to the city on October 17th, via JFK International, Spencer exhibited no symptoms of having contracted Ebola. It wasn't until he developed a fever that he went to the hospital and underwent tests to confirm he, indeed, did have this deadly disease.

So, a doctor could not predict if or when he would contract Ebola and the airport screening did not work. Erring on the side of caution, the day after it was confirmed that Spencer had contracted Ebola, both the New York and New Jersey governors instituted a mandatory quarantine for any health care worker returning from an Ebola-infected. Due to conflicting information from the CDC and our government's response to a possible Ebola outbreak in the United States, these governors are displaying a common-sense approach to protect their constituents.

That is until they quarantined a progressive liberal, one who champions big government until it applies to her. Kaci Hickox penned a op ed published in The Dallas Morning News in which she revealed her harrowing mandatory quarantine in New Jersey. Put aside the complaining for a moment, Hickox's credibility was challenged once it was discovered by Got News that she works for the CDC, not Doctors Without Borders as her op ed claims.

This Veruca Salt fit over being quarantined appears to be convenient politically, according to Charles C. Johnson of Got News:

Hichox’s employer, the CDC, strenuously opposes a travel ban or quarantine but Hickox’s employment wasn’t disclosed in the Dallas Morning News article.

One Dallas Morning reader responded to Hickox's op ed and called her out on the ridiculous quarantine complaining of being in an unheated tent:

Yet - once again, political correctness trumps common sense and Hickox, for the majority, is seen as the example of why a mandatory quarantine is not the right approach, reinforcing the messaging from her boss, the CDC, and the Obama regime. Upon the threat of litigation, the governor of New Jersey released Hickox from the mandatory quarantine and she is now in the comforts of home in Maine.