In the US battle against Ebola, quarantine rules depend on your zip zode.
For some it may feel like imprisonment or house arrest. For others it may be more like a staycation, albeit one with a scary and stressful edge.
If they are lucky, the quarantined may get assigned a case worker who can play the role of a personal concierge by buying groceries and running errands. Some authorities are allowing visitors, or even giving those in quarantine permission, to take trips outside to walk the dog or take a jog.
A month after the first confirmed case of Ebola in the US, state and local health authorities across the country have imposed a hodgepodge of often conflicting rules.
Fears about a possible US outbreak were reignited after American doctor Craig Spencer was hospitalised with Ebola in New York last week after helping treat patients in West Africa, the epicentre of the worst outbreak on record.
Some states, such as New York and New Jersey, have gone as far as quarantining all healthy people returning from working with Ebola patients in West Africa.
In Minnesota, people being monitored by the state’s health department are banned from going on trips on public transit that last longer than three hours – the aim being to reduce exposure to others if someone does start to develop symptoms during a journey. But people with known exposure to Ebola patients will be restricted to their homes without any physical contact allowed.
Spencer’s case has fanned public fears about the deadly virus, pressuring US politicians to bring in harsh quarantine measures. Health experts have criticised such moves, noting the virus can only be transmitted through bodily fluids once an infected person has symptoms, from a fever to vomiting or diarrhoea.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tried to establish a national standard, recommending that only people who had direct contact with Ebola patients without any protective gear submit to isolation at home for 21 days, the maximum period for symptoms to develop. They would still be allowed to go outside on a jog or to walk their dogs, but cannot come within three feet of others or visit places with groups of people, such as a restaurant.
The smaller details – ranging from how groceries are delivered to who can visit – differ by state and even by city.
For some, the difficulties of being confined alone in a small apartment are beginning to take their toll.
The visitors can behave normally, hugging or sharing a meal with the quarantined if they want. A friend or relative may even move in for the rest of the confinement if they like.
In Illinois, health department officials expect family members and friends to deliver food to quarantined individuals, said Melaney Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health. The Red Cross in Chicago will provide those quarantined with gift cards for food and other products, said Julie Morita, chief medical officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health. Illinois has yet to work out who, if anyone, will pay for three weeks of missed work time, but said it expects employers to cover the cost.
One question that none of the state health officials contacted by Reuters could answer was whether the 21-day mandatory quarantines applied to health workers who had arrived from West Africa before the rules were in place but who may still be at risk of infection.