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 In response to questions from Reuters, the group said it was
discussing whether to shorten some assignments as a result of
restrictions imposed by several states since one of its American
doctors, Craig Spencer, was hospitalized in New York City last week
with the virus.
"There is rising anxiety and confusion among MSF staff members in
the field over what they may face when they return home upon
completion of their assignments in West Africa," Sophie Delaunay,
executive director of Doctors Without Borders in the United States,
said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French name, Médecins
Sans Frontières, or MSF, is one of the main aid groups working in
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, where the worst Ebola outbreak on
record has killed nearly 5,000 people.
Some MSF workers have been delaying their returns to the United
States and are staying in Europe for 21 days, Ebola's maximum
incubation period, "in order to avoid facing rising stigmatization
at home and possible quarantine," Delaunay said.
As a result, MSF is discussing whether to shorten some Ebola
assignments from their current duration of four to six weeks. Aid
workers typically begin and end their assignments in Brussels, the
Belgian capital, a spokesman said.
"Some people are being discouraged by their families from returning
to the field," Delaunay said.
The governors of New York and New Jersey announced strict new
screening rules at airports last Friday, including mandatory 21-day
quarantines for people who have had contact with Ebola patients in
West Africa. People may be quarantined in their homes in some cases.
Last weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama's administration
criticized the quarantining of healthy people as "not grounded in
science," echoing criticisms from public health experts.
Delaunay's comments on Thursday are the most substantive criticism
of the rules since they were announced, suggesting they are eroding
MSF's manpower and forcing American workers into temporary exile.
MSF says the policies have also created a misperception that
healthcare workers are endangering the public, even though a person
who does not have symptoms cannot spread the virus.
Delaunay sent her statement in response to questions from Reuters
about whether returning MSF workers were rearranging travel plans to
avoid U.S. states with mandatory quarantines.
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She did not say how many workers were choosing to delay their return
or whether MSF was paying to accommodate them. MSF had already made
a policy of asking its workers not to return to their regular jobs
for 21 days after finishing an Ebola assignment. It pays them wages
for that time.
Only one person is known to have been ordered into quarantine as a
result of the new rules announced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
Nurse Kaci Hickox, 33, was confined to a tent against her will for
several days after arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport
in New Jersey last Friday, shortly before the new rules were
announced. She had worked for MSF in Sierra Leone.
Hickox, who tested negative for Ebola and says she is completely
healthy, has mounted a personal protest against the quarantine
policy.
Three other MSF aid workers have returned to the United States since
last Friday via one of five airports approved for passengers who
have recently been in West Africa. Those workers have not been
quarantined, an MSF spokesman said.
He would not say whether they had arrived at Newark, John F. Kennedy
International Airport in New York City or at airports in states that
have not called for a blanket quarantine.
Press officials for Cuomo and Christie did not respond to a request
for comment.
Delaunay, the MSF director, also said there were fears among its
non-American workers that other countries may follow the example set
by some U.S. states.
(Additional reporting by Sharon Begley and Yasmeen Abutaleb in New
York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)
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