Connecticut's governor signed an order Tuesday granting the state's public health commissioner the ability to order quarantines for any individual that might have been exposed to the deadly Ebola virus, a precautionary step that will allow public officials to fight and coordinate a targeted quarantine in case of a possible outbreak, the Associated Press reported.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's order will give Jewel Mullen, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, an authority that is known to usually rest with local public health directors. Although a specific case of the virus has not been detected in Connecticut yet, Tuesday's order still declared a public health emergency as a way to prepare ahead, according to the Washington Post.
"We are taking this action today to ensure that we are prepared, in advance, to deal with any identified cases in which someone has been exposed to the virus or, worst case, infected," Malloy said in a statement.
"Our state's hospitals have been preparing for it, and public health officials from the state are working around the clock to monitor the situation. Right now, we have no reason to think that anyone in the state is infected or at risk of infection," he continued. "But it is essential to be prepared and we need to have the authorities in place that will allow us to move quickly to protect public health, if and when that becomes necessary. Signing this order will allow us to do that."
Without the order, there would be no statewide ability to isolate or quarantine if suspected cases of Ebola get reported, the governor's office said.
"While local health officials are certainly on the front lines of this effort, at the ready to address any situation, having this order in place will allow us to have a more coordinated response in the event that someone in Connecticut either tests positive for Ebola or has been identified as someone who is at risk of developing it," Mullen said.
"We have had numerous conversations with both local public health officials in the state and senior officials at the Center for Disease Control," she continued. "We have no reason to believe that anyone in Connecticut is infected or at risk of infection, but if it does happen, we want to be ready."
After a Texas man got diagnosed with Ebola two weeks ago, the first one to be reported in the United States, dozens of people have been tested for the Ebola virus, with calls to issue a travel ban from Ebola-effected countries in West Africa being made, RT reported.
"We need to start playing a little offense and stop it where it is, contain it where it is, but have an international call for help," Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino said. "God help us if Ebola comes into New York because we were afraid to offend someone."
Meanwhile, a private residence in northeast Dallas where four people lived alongside Duncan has also been isolated. Everyone who potentially had contact with Duncan will be monitored for 21 days, the normal incubation period for the disease, which is transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.
In addition, another 48 people, who had been in contact with Duncan, are still being monitored, with 10 believed to be at "high risk" for exposure.
It takes about three weeks for Ebola victims to start showing symptoms, at which point the disease becomes contagious.
The Ebola outbreak started in Guinea's remote southeast in February and has since spread across the region. Since it was first recorded in 1976 in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 3,400 people have died in the outbreak from more than 7,400 infections in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.
