New federal health rules will give the U.S. government more leeway to put people in quarantine during an epidemic -- a fact that has some public health experts worried as President Donald Trump begins his term.
The regulations, released on former President Barack Obama's last full day in office, were created to better protect the public from communicable diseases like the Ebola virus or avian flu.
But in the wrong hands, the measures might lead to unnecessary and unfair detentions, public health lawyers wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed.
SEE ALSO:Trump explores vaccine commission with prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr.Their scary speculation is mainly designed to pressure policymakers to enlist science-focused, highly qualified people -- not political appointees -- to head the nation's public health agencies. While there's no reason to fear widespread quarantines right away, the experts told Mashable that they want people to know just what's at stake in Donald Trump's administration.
The new quarantine rules don't expand the authority of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -- only Congress can do that.
The CDC told Mashable the regulations won't change the agency's current practices for responding to a public health crisis. But the measures do spell out a broader range of actions the agency can take.
For instance, the CDC can restrict interstate travel during a health crisis.
A young girl is taken to an ambulance after showing signs of the Ebola infection in the village of Freeman Reserve, Liberia, Sept. 30, 2014.Credit: AP Photo/Jerome DelayUntil now, state and local governments have been primarily responsible for imposing quarantines to protect local residents from diseases. The CDC is mostly active at the U.S. border, where it conducts health screenings of immigrants, or in special zones like airports, where it screens passengers during outbreaks, like the 2014 Ebola crisis.
The CDC published its final quarantine rule on Jan. 19, ending more than a decade's worth of discussions on the issue. The rules take effect on Feb. 21.
The federal quarantine rules aren't the issue per se, said Scott Burris, who directs the public health law research program at Temple University in Philadelphia.
It's the matter of who will implement these rules that has public health experts concerned.
In the Times op-ed, Burris and other lawyers argued that the Trump administration could potentially abuse the updated quarantine rules by detaining people solely to look strong during a crisis -- even if such decisions aren't medically necessary.
Via Giphy"There's definitely pressure on public health leaders to take action that looks reassuring, including potentially locking somebody up who shouldn't be locked up," Burris told Mashablein an interview.
Trump's own responses to public health issues have tended to stem from emotional reaction, not scientific evidence.
In 2014, he urged the government to ban all flights from "Ebola-infected countries" to stop the "plague" from spreading inside U.S. borders, an approach that medical experts didn't think was needed. On the campaign trail in 2015, he wrongly accused Mexican immigrants of bringing "tremendous infections disease" across the border.
Signs that read in Spanish "No more wars," "No more deportations" and "No racism." hang from a fence in front of the U.S. Embassy, during a march against U.S. President Donald Trump in Mexico City, Jan. 20, 2017.Credit: AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo"The government needs to be able to protect public health, but they're not going to protect public health if this authority is used in a manner that is based on fear-mongering, as opposed to science," said Wendy Parmet, who co-authored the Times op-ed and directs the health policy and law program at Northeastern University in Boston.
Mashable asked the CDC to comment on concerns that federal officials could apply the new regulations based on politics and fear, not evidence of illness. A spokesperson replied by email:
In keeping with current CDC practice, the final rule is consistent with scientific principles and best practices to protect public health. CDC applies these practices using the least restrictive means available. Isolation or quarantine lasts only as long as necessary to protect the public by (1) providing a public health intervention or recommendation (such as voluntary testing or drug treatment, as appropriate and with the informed consent of the patient) and (2) ensuring that persons under federal public health orders do not infect or expose others if they are capable of spreading a quarantinable communicable disease.
For Burris, Parmet and other public health experts, the answers are clear: Policymakers should appoint a CDC leader with deep experience and solid scientific knowledge, and stave off sweeping budget cuts that would undermine the agency's ability to respond in a crisis.
"We're really interested in making sure that when the next crisis hits, the CDC has the resources and the experts that it needs to respond on the basis of the real evidence and science, and not on the basis of public fear and politics," said Kyle Edwards, who has a doctorate in public health from Oxford University, is studying at Yale Law School, and was the op-ed's lead author.
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, arrives to his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, Jan. 24, 2017.Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call VIA ap imagesTrump's pick for health secretary, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, would oversee the CDC appointment if confirmed. The orthopedic surgeon and six-term Republican congressman faced a second Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
Burris said that, despite his concerns about Trump, he wanted to "give a chance" to the president and his future health secretary.
"I'm urging the Trump administration to make sure the world's greatest public health agency has the world's greatest public health leader to run it," he said.
TopicsDonald Trump
(责任编辑：知識)
Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream
Elon Musk takes press inside the Gigafactory for the first time
Melbourne mural in memoriam of Taylor Swift is brutal AF
10 things we miss about Netflix's DVDSamsung Galaxy Note7 teardown reveals the magic behind the phone's iris scannerPhotos show the Blue Cut fire blazing a path of destruction in California
A fast moving wildfire continued raging near San Bernadino, California, forcing the evacuation of at
...[详细]Man hunting for Pokémon accidentally enters military base
Here's a word of advice while hunting Pokémon: Don't try to do it in an off-limits military b
...[详细]Cat brings home live bat, absolute chaos ensues
Cats do the darndest things.For example, Twitter user NickMillerr_'s cat, Nala, decided it would be
...[详细]Obviously ‘Pokémon Go’ and Calvin Harris dominated Twitter this week
Twitter provided a platform for a bit of drama this week.Recent exes Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris
...[详细]Is Samsung's Galaxy Note7 really the best phone?
On this week's 。 MashTalk。, Lance, Pete and I talk about the new hot smartphone in town: Samsung's Ga
...[详细]100 nude women showed up to protest at the Republican National Convention
Warning: This post contains nudity and is NSFW. In the early morning hours on Sunday, 100 women arme
...[详细]U.S. Olympic athletes use puppy power to prepare for Rio games
The upcoming Rio Olympics have been plagued by the specter of possible trouble in the city, from pol
...[详细]Protesters bring their own wall to the Republican convention
It's day three of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, and things aren't getting a
...[详细]Florida hurricane forecast remains uncertain, but trends in state's favor
For days, a war has been raging between two of the premiere computer models used to help predict the
...[详细]MH370 update: New clues emerge about missing aircraft's possible crash site
The mysterious, missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 likely crashed off the coast of Australia or
...[详细]Uber's $100M settlement over drivers as contractors may not be enough
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tops Warren Buffett, becomes the third richest person in the world
