I’ll tell you about my “quarantine” and its end (last Friday). It appears the each county and state will decide possibly differently how it will track those coming from West Africa.
In the case of my partner, Dr. Robins, the Nassau county authorities felt comfortable in just calling him daily. I had to be blessed with twice a day calls to check my temperature, and once a day physical visits at my house to make sure I knew how to take a temperature, and that I was not fudging it, and that they saw it taken right in front of their eyes. The public health authorities came out every day but one. I guess they thought I might know how to take a temperature that day.
I highly compliment the Sonoma county public health people on ALL scores except one, which I will get to in a moment. They wanted to be sure that the person they were tracking was, in fact, well monitored, not fudging temperatures, and not ill. This protects the public as well as me.
Now in my case, I told them that I wanted to go to Las Vegas to participate in a major meeting (American College for Advancement in Medicine) where I was chair of the oxidation workshop and was to present an award to a world class ozone researcher, Silvia Menendez, PhD of Cuba.
This trip was at the very end of the “quarantine.” The authorities did not “approve” of the travel, but respectfully, did not attempt, or even suggest that they would obstruct it. They simply wanted to know how I was getting there so that in the small chance I fell ill, they could retrace my footsteps. And, they went to far as to arrange for a local Las Vegas public health official to pay a personal visit each of the last two days.
So, to the amusement of all those to whom I was speaking, I was visited WHILE on the podium to have my temperature checked (photo posted). Everyone was in stitches laughing.
We thanked the lady for doing her job, and, of course I was checked on the following day, Friday, day 21, and thanked for my cooperation, that she would forward my cooperation to Sonoma county officials, and told me it was all over for me. No calls or visits since (smile).
I have “graduated.”
Tomorrow I return to work and my patients won’t have to fear. Please know that the public health authorities are doing all that they can, and what can be reasonably done, to protect you, the exposed person, and that I am 100% on their side.
What I didn’t like in my case, was, after I agreed in writing to be monitored and restrict activities, that they administratively ORDERED me to comply. I felt that demeaning and unfitting under the circumstances of my 100% cooperation. I told them so as well.
Also, none of my colleagues at ACAM were inhibited at all about shaking my hand or hugging me, seeing me alive and well, even before the official “end’ of the 21 days observation.