Isolation and Quarantine

 While doing some research on the issues involved with voluntary and involuntary isolation and quarantine, I ran across the case of Robert Daniels, a Russian who had been admitted into the US despite having a rare and highly drug-resistant form of tuberculosis (TB). As a condition of entry, he agreed not to go out in public without a mask (sound familiar?), but got caught at a Maricopa County (AZ) convenience store without one. He was promptly tossed in the hoosegow, for NINE MONTHS.

"Like jailed inmates accused of crimes, Daniels is subjected to intrusive strip searches and he is unable to receive any visits from family and friends. He isn’t permitted to exercise or walk outside, and has no access to social or recreational activities like the Internet. He has been outside only once in the past nine months, and was shackled hand and foot. The lights in his cell are required to be kept on at night, and video cameras record his every move. He can’t see through the frosted windows in his room and wasn’t able to shower or call anyone until a few weeks ago." (1)

Bear in mind, Roberts wasn't being accused of being a mass murderer, or anything... he was a guy with a contagious disease.

"In its complaint, the ACLU argues that the county has failed to implement procedures on how to humanely quarantine sick patients for lengthy periods of time, and in an effort to cut costs deliberately failed to explore alternative locations in which to quarantine Daniels. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio(2) publicly stated that in the interest of security he would treat any person housed in the jail ward in the same manner as all other jail inmates."(3)

The ACLU went on to describe the compassionate medical treatment Roberts received:

" Like jailed inmates accused of crimes, Daniels is subjected to intrusive strip searches and he is unable to receive any visits from family and friends. He isn’t permitted to exercise or walk outside, and has no access to social or recreational activities like the Internet. He has been outside only once in the past nine months, and was shackled hand and foot. The lights in his cell are required to be kept on at night, and video cameras record his every move. He can’t see through the frosted windows in his room and wasn’t able to shower or call anyone until a few weeks ago."(4)

We ran into a similar situation here in Maine a few years, during the last Ebola scare here in the states. Kaci Hickox, a nurse who had worked with "Doctors Without Borders" in West Africa, was locked up, initially in New Jersey, on the orders of Governor Chris Christie (another trump supporter), and subsequently in Maine, on orders from Governor Paul LePage (yet another trumper... are you starting to see a pattern here?). Hickox sued in both cases, and won. Christie, by the way, claimed Hickox was positive for Ebola; she was not. (5)

"I never had symptoms of Ebola. I tested negative for Ebola the first night I stayed in New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s private prison," Hickox said in a statement released through the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which is representing her in the lawsuit.

"My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear," she said.(6)

This, of course, is standard operating procedure for the GOP: use fear if you don't have facts on your side. 

__________

1. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-arizona-sues-county-officials-over-inhumane-confinement-tb-patient, retrieved Mar 2, 2021

2. You remember Joe "Feed Them Green Bologna" Arpaio: he was pardoned by his good buddy trump after pissing off the Federal Courts by ignoring orders that his *COUNTY* deputies not engage in *FEDERAL* immigration enforcement.

3. Ibid

4. Ibid

5. https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/kaci-hickox-maine-nurse-quarantined-ebola-scare-sues-new-jersey-n449491, retrieved Mar 2, 2021

6. Ibid