FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, file photo, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, speaks as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie listens at a news conference, in New York, where the governors announced a mandatory quarantine for people returning to the United States through airports in New York and New Jersey who are deemed "high risk," for contracting Ebola. Word of the quarantine set off a firestorm, but some other states have followed suit. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)Mark Lennihan/The Associated Press
The Ebola virus has landed in the United States at the worst possible moment: election season. Mid-term elections are a week away and campaigning politicians – in particular Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey – seem determined to feed on the fear that the disease inspires. In doing so, they have made a difficult situation worse.
Last Friday, Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Christie announced an enforced 21-day quarantine on health-care workers who travel to Africa to care for Ebola patients and return to the U.S. via an airport in their states. This was a defiant contradiction of the recommended policies of the Obama administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the wider scientific community. Federal authorities say, and the science supports them, that a person with Ebola only becomes contagious once they show symptoms. The first symptom is always an elevated temperature; health-care workers who may have the disease can self-identify and get to hospital before becoming a threat to others. Critics say that a mandatory, pre-emptive quarantine is unnecessary overkill.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who is up for re-election, and Mr. Christie, who is campaigning hard on behalf of Republican candidates, don't consider what amounts to an honour system to be adequate. Fair enough: As elected leaders, they are obliged to make decisions that they believe will protect their citizens.
But their actions have been rash and ad hoc, and have consequently seemed more aimed at feeding voters' distrust of Washington than at bringing calm. The two governors are contributing to the creation of a patchwork of policies in the U.S. They're also further confusing people who are genuinely frightened by the disease.
The New England Journal of Medicine on Monday argued that the Ebola crisis needs to be stopped at its source – the West African countries where the disease first appeared and has already killed thousands. It will take many thousands of health-care volunteers to accomplish that, but some will have second thoughts about going to Africa if they face a blanket, 21-day quarantine upon return. By imposing a mandatory quarantine against the advice of so many, Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Christie could end up winning a few votes, while hurting the global effort to stop Ebola.