By Marc Santora and Michael D. Shear
Carlo Allegri | Reuters
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, and New
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speak during a news conference about New York's
first case of Ebola, Oct. 24, 2014, in New York.
The Obama administration has been pushing the governors of
New York and New Jersey to reverse their decision ordering all medical
workers returning from West Africa who had contact with Ebola patients
to be quarantined, an administration official said.
But on Sunday both governors, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, stood by their decision, saying that the federal guidelines did not go far enough.
At the same time, the first person to be forced into isolation under the new protocols, Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone, planned to mount a legal challenge to t
he quarantine order. Despite having no symptoms, she has been kept under quarantine at a hospital in New Jersey. On Sunday, she spoke to CNN about the way she has been treated, describing it as “inhumane.”
Read MoreNJ/NY consider new Ebola protocols for high-risk travelers
The rapidly escalating events played out both privately, in intense negotiations and phone calls between federal and state officials, as well as publicly in the nurse’s pointed criticism of the New Jersey governor.
Ever since Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, and Mr. Christie, a Republican, announced the plan at a hastily called news conference on Friday evening, top administration officials have been speaking with Mr. Cuomo daily and have also been in touch with Mr. Christie, trying to get them to rescind the order.
But in that time, two more states – Illinois and Florida – announced that they were instituting similar policies.
Federal officials made it clear that they do not agree with the governors about the need or effectiveness of a total quarantine for health care workers, though they were careful not to directly criticize the governors themselves.
A senior administration official, who did not want to be identified in order to discuss private conversations with state officials on the issue, called the decision by the governors “uncoordinated, very hurried, an immediate reaction to the New York City case that doesn’t comport with science.”
The decision to institute a mandatory quarantine came after a New York doctor, Craig Spence r, was diagnosed with Ebola on Thursday, having contracted the virus while working in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders. He is being treated at Bellevue Hospital Center, where his condition has worsened, an expected development as the virus replicates and spreads through his body.
The decision to order mandatory quarantines has not only opened a rift with federal officials, but also between New York City and the state.
Having seen the disorganized way officials in Dallas implemented quarantine orders for people who came into contact with Thomas Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., New York City officials were determined to do better.
One key part of their strategy was to ensure that they were able to meet all the needs of those placed in isolation, making their time as comfortable as possible.
More from The New York Times:
As Ebola Spread in Dallas, New York Honed Protocol
New York Ebola Patient Enters More Serious Phase of Illness, Officials Say
Ebola Patient’s Fiancée Shares His Passion for Helping Those in Need, Friends Say
The plans called for monitors to be assigned to each quarantined family or individual dedicated solely to help them get meals, stay in contact with loved ones and ensure they had a clear line of communication with officials.
But on Sunday both governors, Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, stood by their decision, saying that the federal guidelines did not go far enough.
At the same time, the first person to be forced into isolation under the new protocols, Kaci Hickox, a nurse returning from Sierra Leone, planned to mount a legal challenge to t
he quarantine order. Despite having no symptoms, she has been kept under quarantine at a hospital in New Jersey. On Sunday, she spoke to CNN about the way she has been treated, describing it as “inhumane.”
Read MoreNJ/NY consider new Ebola protocols for high-risk travelers
The rapidly escalating events played out both privately, in intense negotiations and phone calls between federal and state officials, as well as publicly in the nurse’s pointed criticism of the New Jersey governor.
Ever since Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, and Mr. Christie, a Republican, announced the plan at a hastily called news conference on Friday evening, top administration officials have been speaking with Mr. Cuomo daily and have also been in touch with Mr. Christie, trying to get them to rescind the order.
But in that time, two more states – Illinois and Florida – announced that they were instituting similar policies.
Federal officials made it clear that they do not agree with the governors about the need or effectiveness of a total quarantine for health care workers, though they were careful not to directly criticize the governors themselves.
A senior administration official, who did not want to be identified in order to discuss private conversations with state officials on the issue, called the decision by the governors “uncoordinated, very hurried, an immediate reaction to the New York City case that doesn’t comport with science.”
The decision to institute a mandatory quarantine came after a New York doctor, Craig Spence r, was diagnosed with Ebola on Thursday, having contracted the virus while working in Guinea for Doctors Without Borders. He is being treated at Bellevue Hospital Center, where his condition has worsened, an expected development as the virus replicates and spreads through his body.
The decision to order mandatory quarantines has not only opened a rift with federal officials, but also between New York City and the state.
Having seen the disorganized way officials in Dallas implemented quarantine orders for people who came into contact with Thomas Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., New York City officials were determined to do better.
One key part of their strategy was to ensure that they were able to meet all the needs of those placed in isolation, making their time as comfortable as possible.
More from The New York Times:
As Ebola Spread in Dallas, New York Honed Protocol
New York Ebola Patient Enters More Serious Phase of Illness, Officials Say
Ebola Patient’s Fiancée Shares His Passion for Helping Those in Need, Friends Say
The plans called for monitors to be assigned to each quarantined family or individual dedicated solely to help them get meals, stay in contact with loved ones and ensure they had a clear line of communication with officials.
"The entire city was not informed, even the mayor's office," according to a city official involved in New York's Ebola response. "The mayor was caught unaware."
"The big picture decision was made in the absence of any deep thinking about what implementing the policy would entail," the official said.
As for Ms. Hickox, her plane happened to land precisely at the wrong moment.
"This nurse just happened to land mid-conversation between the two governors," the official said.
Ms. Hickox spoke out about her treatment in her interview with CNN on Sunday, saying that officials still have not told her what they plan to do next or why they are isolating her since she poses not public health risk as long as she remains asymptomatic.
She also blasted Mr. Christie for saying that she was sick, when it was clear that she was not running a fever and had tested negative for Ebola.
"The first thing I would say to Governor Christie is that I wish he would be more careful about his statements about my medical condition," she said. "If he knew anything about Ebola he would know that asymptomatic people are not infectious."
She spoke from the inside of a medical tent where she has been quarantined since Friday night. The tent has a portable toilet, but no shower. There is no television and weak cellphone reception.
"I also want to be treated with compassion and humanity, and I don't feel I've been treated that way in the past three days," she said in the interview. "I think this is an extreme that is really unacceptable. I feel like my basic human rights have been violated."
Ms. Hickox has retained a well-known civil rights lawyer, Norman Siegel, to challenge the quarantine order and get her out of isolation. In an interview on Sunday, he said the order "raised substantial civil liberties issues."
"The policy infringes on Kaci Hickox's constitutional liberty interests," he said. "The policy is overly broad as applied to Ms. Hickox and we are preparing to challenge it on her behalf."
Mr. Christie, speaking earlier on Fox News on Sunday, defended the policy. "We've taken this action and I have absolutely no second thoughts about it," he said.
Members of the administration challenged the wisdom of the quarantine order and the way it was being implemented.
Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, arrived in Guinea's capital Conakry on Sunday on the first leg of a tour through the three West African nations hardest hit by the epidemic and spoke out about the critical need for more health care workers to join the fight against the virus.
"All of us need to make clear what these health workers mean to us and how much we value their services, how much we value their contribution," Power said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We need to make sure they are treated like conquering heroes and not in any other way."
Public health experts have pushed against stricter measures such as quarantining returning travelers without symptoms, arguing the effort is overkill and could actually serve to harm the effort in West Africa, where the disease is still exploding.
They argue that controlling the virus where it is raging is the only way to reduce the risk to zero for Americans, and that the new federal policy, set to take effect Monday, achieves the delicate balance of precautionary measures that do not impede broader efforts in Africa.
Under that new policy, any traveler retuning from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea will be required to report their temperatures to their local health authorities. They will also be required to give health officials the names and addresses of their relatives and where they will be staying in the three weeks after they arrive, the approximate amount of time the disease takes to incubate.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease, said it was vital not to do anything that might interfere with the flow of health workers to West Africa.
"There's a big, big difference between completely confining somebody so that they can't even get outside and doing the appropriate monitoring based on scientific evidence," Dr. Fauci said on CNN. "The harm is that it is totally disruptive of their life. We want them to go because they are helping us to protect America to be over there."
A person infected with Ebola is not infectious until they show symptoms of the virus. The sicker someone becomes, the greater the risk of contagion. Ebola is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids, not through the air.
The new quarantine policy could have an immediate effect on people working for one of the organizations that has been leading the effort the contain the spread of Ebola, Doctors Without Borders.
A total of 52 people from the United States have worked with Doctors Without Borders in West Africa on the Ebola response since it began in March, according to a spokesperson for the group. Of these, 31 are currently at work in West Africa. Twenty of those 31 individuals are scheduled to return sometime in the next four weeks.
Mr. Christie was dismissive of the concerns voiced by both the administration and public health officials.
"It was my conclusion that we needed to do this to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey," Mr. Christie said. "I have great respect for Dr. Fauci, but what he's counting on is a voluntary system in which folks may or may not comply."
Ms. Hickox, the nurse, said that not only was Mr. Christie's thinking flawed, but the implementation of the policy was a disaster.
"I think one of the things about this policy is that it is obviously poorly planned out," she said.
She added, "We don't need politicians to make these kinds of decisions. We need public health experts to make these decisions."
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