OKLAHOMA CITY — Unlike some states, Oklahoma will not require an overall quarantine for health-care workers who treated West African Ebola patients, officials said Tuesday.
State health-care leaders adopted new rules Monday in conjunction with recently released federal guidelines establishing four categories of Ebola contact.
Oklahoma will require a 21-day in-home quarantine only for people in the highest risk group. People in that group cared for or lived with an Ebola patient and may have had a needle stick or direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids of the infected person, state epidemiologist Dr. Kristy Bradley said.
However, no quarantine will be required in Oklahoma for health-care workers who used personal protection equipment while providing care to those with the deadly disease. These workers would be required to take their temperature twice a day, and health officials would maintain close contact with them.
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Ebola risk categories
Oklahoma health officials, working in conjunction with federal recommendations, have set four risk categories for Ebola contact. Only those in the high risk category would be subject to a 21-day in-home quarantine.
Health officials would work with those in the “some risk” and “low risk” categories so that they are monitored for any sign of the disease.
- High risk: A person who has provided care for a patient diagnosed with Ebola and may have had a needle stick or direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids of the infected person; or someone who has lived with or cared for a person showing symptoms of Ebola.
- Some risk: A person who has been in the vicinity (within 3 feet) of someone with Ebola for an extended period of time but who had no direct contact or who did not provide care for a person infected with Ebola. This category also includes health-care workers who used personal protection equipment while providing care to patients showing symptoms of Ebola in countries with widespread Ebola transmission.
- Low risk: A person who has traveled to Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone within the previous 21 days but did not have any known exposure to Ebola. This category also includes people with brief skin contact with a person showing symptoms of Ebola when the person was not very contagious and health-care workers at a U.S. facility in contact with an Ebola patient while wearing personal protection equipment.
- No identified risk: A person who did not travel to one of the affected countries within the previous 21 days, or someone who is a close contact of an asymptomatic person who traveled to one of the Ebola-affected countries.
