Guinea

UPDATE WITH TEXT OF LATEST WHO REPORT

http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/137376/1/roadmapsitrep_29Oct2014_eng.pdf

ASSOCIATED PRESS                                                                      Oct. 30, 2014
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULAY and JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --Liberia is making some progress in containing the Ebola outbreak while Sierra Leone is "in a crisis situation which is going to get worse," the top anti-Ebola officials in the two countries said.

The people of both countries must redouble efforts to stop the disease, which has infected more than 13,000 people and killed nearly 5,000, the officials said. Their assessments underscore that Ebola remains a constant threat until the outbreak is wiped out. It can appear to be on the wane, only to re-emerge in the same place or balloon elsewhere if people don't avoid touching Ebola patients or the bodies of those who succumb to the disease.

OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS DURING PAST DAY

WASHINGTON POST                            Oct. 30, 2014
By Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis and Joel Achenbach
New Ebola infections in virus-ravaged Liberia appear to be declining for the first time in months, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

Until now, officials have been suspicious of this encouraging trend, thinking it might be an artifact of poor data collection, a symptom of chaos in countries that were overwhelmed by the crisis. But Bruce Aylward, a top WHO official, said Wednesday that the decline in new cases “is real,” measured by scores of empty beds in Ebola clinics, fewer cases confirmed by laboratory tests and a drop in burials by specially trained teams.

Still, the WHO and other officials remain wary because the nature of this outbreak has been one of unpredictable surges and declines.

“It’s like saying your pet tiger is under control,” Aylward said. “This is a very, very dangerous disease.”

Meanwhile President Obama continued to criticize the calls for mandatory quarantines for returning volunteers

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS                                                        Oct. 29, 2014

By Julia Prodis Sulek

California on Wednesday became the latest state to order a 21-day quarantine for travelers who have been in close contact with Ebola patients.

In an attempt to avoid the criticism lodged against New York, New Jersey and Maine that had blanket quarantine orders, however, California will allow county health agencies to impose the quarantine on a case-by-case basis.

By working with county health departments to assess the individual risks, the California Department of Public Health said it "respects the individual circumstances of each traveler while protecting and preserving the public health."

Quarantine can range from observation and monitoring to the "limitation on his or her freedom of movement."

In the Bay Area, a Stanford doctor who returned last week from Liberia where he was treating Ebola patients was already being monitored by the San Mateo County Department of Public Health. The department coordinated with the CDC and San Francisco International Airport when Dr. Colin Bucks arrived late last week. He had no symptoms of the disease and came to an agreement with health officials to avoid contact with others but can leave the house for limited activities, such as jogging alone.

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USA TODAY                                                                        OCT. 29, 2014
By Doug Staglin
Maine state police were stationed outside the home of Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox Wednesday as Gov. Paul LePage said he was seeking legal authority to force the "unwilling" health care workers to remain quarantined for 21 days.

The 33-year-old nurse, who has shown no symptoms of the deadly virus, arrived in Maine on Monday after being forcibly held in an isolation tent in New Jersey for three days under that state's strict new law for health care workers who have recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa.

Over Hickox's objections, Maine health officials insisted that she stay in her home in Fort Kent for 21 days until the incubation period for Ebola had passed.

"I don't plan on sticking to the guidelines," Hickox tells Today show's Matt Lauer. "I am not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public."