WASHINGTON (AP) — Mandatory 21-day quarantines on health care workers returning from Ebola-ravaged West Africa, like those put in place by three states, can have the unintended consequence of discouraging them from volunteering, a top federal health official said Sunday. 
 
 Patient Nina Pham is hugged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outside of National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 24,... (Associated Press) 
 
 File-This Feb. 28, 2014, file photo shows Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., speaking during a news conference after a private U.N. Security Council meeting. Power is going to visit all three... (Associated Press) 
 
 Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that as a physician and scientist, he would have recommended against a quarantine. 
 
 "The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health care workers so we do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable for them to even volunteer to go." he said. 
 
 He said active and direct monitoring can accomplish the same thing as a quarantine because people infected with Ebola do not become contagious until they start showing symptoms. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. 
 
 New York, New Jersey and Illinois imposed mandatory quarantines after Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders physician who treated patients in Guinea, was diagnosed with Ebola last Thursday. The doctor, who is now in isolation at New York's Bellevue Hospital, had been on the subway, went bowling and to a park and restaurant before showing symptoms 
 
 Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., said he concluded the quarantine was necessary to protect public health in his state and that he thinks the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "eventually will come around to our point of view on this." 
 
 Christie said Fauci was counting on "a voluntary system with folks who may or may not comply." 
 
 The governor pointed to an NBC News crew that had returned from West Africa was supposed to self-quarantine because its cameraman was hospitalized with Ebola. "Two days later they were out picking up takeout food in Princeton and walking around the streets of Princeton," he said. The cameraman has recovered and has been released from the hospital. 
 
 Fauci said Spencer did exactly what he should have done by putting himself in isolation as soon as he developed a fever. "No one came into contact with his body fluids," Fauci said. "The risk is essentially zero, vanishingly small." 
 
 Fauci said the health care workers returning from treating Ebola patients are responsible and know that if they have symptoms there's the possibility of transmitting the disease. "They don't want to get anyone else infected," he said. 
 
 As for the unintended consequences, he said, "If we don't have our people volunteering to go over there, then you're going to have other countries that are not going to do it and then the epidemic will continue to roar," he said. 
 
 Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who is on a trip to West Africa to highlight the need for increased international support to combat Ebola, spoke of a need to ensure that returning U.S. health care workers "are treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done." 
 
 Fauci appeared on "Fox News Sunday," ABC's "This Week" and NBC's "Meet the Press." Christie was interviewed on Fox and Power spoke to NBC. ||||| Quarantines of health care workers returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa might not be the best scientific approach, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases said Sunday. 
 
 Three states — New York, New Jersey and Illinois — enacted medical quarantines of workers coming home from working in West Africa. And Anthony Fauci said on "Fox News Sunday" there's concern about the quarantine keeping others from volunteering. 
 
 "First principle: Protect American people. Second principle: Make your decision based on the science," he said. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Rick Scott implements Ebola monitoring) 
 
 "Guidelines regarding how you handle people from coming back should always be based on the science, and the science tells us that people who are asymptomatic do not transmit," Fauci added. "That doesn't mean we're cavalier about it, but that means there are other steps that you can protect American people based on the scientific evidence that does not necessarily go so far as to possibly have unintended consequences of disincentivizing health care workers. The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health care workers." 
 
 (WATCH: Sunday shows in 90 seconds) 
 
 Active and direct monitoring would accomplish the same thing as a quarantine, Fauci said. He made similar remarks on NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union" and ABC's "This Week." 
 
 "We need to treat them, returning people, with respect, and make sure that they're really heroes," he said on "Meet the Press" when talking about a quarantine of the returning health-care workers. "So the idea that we're being a little bit draconian, there are other ways to protect. There's monitoring, there's direct monitoring, there's active monitoring. We don't necessarily need to do that." 
 
 Read more about: Quarantine, Ebola, Anthony Fauci ||||| Rep. Darrell Issa said on Sunday the public lacks confidence in the Obama administration's ability to handle the Ebola crisis. 
 
 The California Republican, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said governors of both parties are reacting to an absence of presidential leadership. Illinois, New Jersey and New York recently imposed mandatory 21-day quarantines for health care professionals returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa. 
 
 But Issa said on CNN's "State of the Union" that mandatory quarantines might not be the best way for states to contain the disease. 
 
 (WATCH: Sunday shows in 90 seconds) 
 
 "Science has told us, if we are to take them at their word, that if someone doesn’t have an elevated temperature or the other later symptoms, that we can rely on them not being contagious," he said. "If that’s true, then immediate isolation of people for 21 days is not the answer. Again, trust matters." 
 
 Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said earlier Sunday that imposing mandatory quarantines might discourage health care professionals from going to West Africa in the first place, where they're most needed to stop the spread of the disease at its source. 
 
 The administration needs to step up and lead, Issa said. But, he said, President Barack Obama's appointment of Ron Klain, a lawyer, to coordinate government response efforts doesn't inspire much confidence. 
 
 "The fact is, I’d much rather he find a four-star general or admiral to coordinate these people who have said things that didn’t turn out to be accurate, who have made mistakes and don’t want to admit them," Issa said. 
 
 Read more about: President Barack Obama, Obama Administration, Darrell Issa, Ron Klain, Ebola, Anthony Fauci ||||| New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on Sunday revised a controversial policy to quarantine returning health-care workers from Ebola-stricken nations, under pressure from the Obama administration and medical experts over the aggressive measures. 
 
 Elaborating on the procedures, Cuomo said health-care workers who have been in contact with Ebola patients but do not show symptoms of the deadly virus can return to their homes but will be forced to remain there while being monitored by state health officials for symptoms. He said those being monitored can interact with family and friends. 
 
 “It’s not like this is the toughest duty,” Cuomo said in a news conference late Sunday with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D). 
 
 The change separates the state’s quarantine process from that of New Jersey, which has come under scrutiny after the weekend retention of a nurse who showed no symptoms of Ebola. Kaci Hickox, who returned from Sierra Leone after working with Doctors Without Borders, has been held in isolation at a site attached to a New Jersey hospital. 
 
 On Sunday, Hickox told CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union”: “This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated.” 
 
 A medical worker in New Jersey quarantined following her arrival at an airport after treating Ebola victims in West Africa has tested negative for the virus. However, she will continue to be under a mandatory 21-day quarantine under the new policy. (Reuters) 
 
 Cuomo said New York’s new policy is more in line with those of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He said people who are quarantined in their homes will be able to interact with family members while health officials come unannounced twice a day to monitor their health. 
 
 The fast-moving changes by the state come after a top federal health official and medical experts earlier Sunday sharply criticized New York and New Jersey’s mandatory quarantines of aid workers returning from Ebola-stricken nations, saying the strict mandates could hamper overall efforts to combat the deadly virus at its epicenters. 
 
 The conflicting interests of federal and state officials highlight a conundrum for the United States as it takes a leading role in fighting the contagion of Ebola in West Africa while also trying to calm rising anxieties about the potential spread of the disease at home. 
 
 Cuomo insisted the state would help alleviate any burdens posed by the home-based 21-day quarantine for health-care workers returning from West Africa. If a person loses pay because of workdays missed, the governor said, he or she will be compensated and state officials will talk to employers if necessary. 
 
 If a person arrives with no symptoms and had no direct contact with Ebola patients, there will be no home confinement. 
 
 “My personal preference is to err on the side of caution,” Cuomo said, saying he and de Blasio will urge New York medical experts to encourage hospital staff to volunteer in Ebola efforts in West Africa. “I understand that some people believe the 21-day home quarantine is a burden. I would ask for their cooperation and understanding and remember what we are trying to balance.” 
 
 The Obama administration said Sunday that it had expressed concerns to Cuomo and Christie about the “unintended consequences” of the quarantines and how they could deter volunteers from deploying to West Africa, where the spread of Ebola continues to rage. 
 
 The Post's Abby Phillip looks past the Ebola hysteria to address three of the latest misconceptions about the deadly virus. (Davin Coburn/The Washington Post) 
 
 “We have let the governors of New York, New Jersey and other states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences . . . policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source in West Africa,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on the private discussions. 
 
 On several Sunday news talk shows, Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, strongly objected to the quarantine policies. He said sending American volunteers to countries such as Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone is vital to efforts to contain the virus there, and he warned that stringent isolation policies for the aid workers upon their return would hamper the global fight against Ebola. 
 
 “The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health-care workers, so we do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable for them to even volunteer to go,” Fauci said on “Fox News Sunday.” 
 
 He recommended voluntary monitoring, not isolation, for returning health-care workers, stressing that Ebola cannot be spread unless symptoms appear. 
 
 The White House plans to announce guidelines for returning health-care workers to help prevent imported cases of Ebola while encouraging volunteers to combat the disease abroad, the administration official said, adding that the White House would consult with states on new federal policies. 
 
 On Sunday, President Obama convened his top health and security advisers and directed them to create policies that would help mitigate the risk of additional Ebola cases in the United States. The meeting included Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who advised the president on considerations for new measures for returning health-care workers. 
 
 “The President underscored that the steps we take must be guided by the best medical science, as informed by our most knowledgeable public health experts,” said a White House statement. “He also emphasized that these measures must recognize that healthcare workers are an indispensable element of our effort to lead the international community to contain and ultimately end this outbreak at its source, and should be crafted so as not to unnecessarily discourage those workers from serving.” 
 
 Christie and Cuomo argued Sunday that the potential threat of spreading the disease was too great to leave to self-monitoring by returning aid workers. Already, hundreds of volunteers have deployed and hundreds more American health-care workers, military service members and humanitarian workers are expected to join them in coming weeks. 
 
 “I don’t believe when you’re dealing with something as serious as this that we can count on a voluntary system,” Christie said on “Fox News Sunday.” “The government’s job is to protect [the] safety and health of our citizens. And so we’ve taken this action, and I absolutely have no second thoughts about it.” 
 
 Christie’s office on Sunday responded to Cuomo’s actions, saying New Jersey’s procedure also included in-home quarantine for residents of the state. Non-residents, however, would be transferred to their homes if possible or contained in a local hospital if necessary, a spokesman said. The new details of both state plans still left questions about how the quarantine procedures would be implemented and whether they would be effective. 
 
 Christie and Cuomo announced their quarantine orders Friday after aid worker Craig Spencer was diagnosed with the virus earlier in the week. Spencer is being treated in isolation at Bellevue Hospital Center in Manhattan. Ram Raju, a Bellevue doctor, said in a news conference Sunday afternoon with de Blasio that Spencer is “looking a little bit better than he looked yesterday. But he remains in serious but stable condition with the expected symptoms of the virus.” 
 
 The governors of Illinois and Florida followed New York and New Jersey with stronger mandates to monitor airline passengers returning from West Africa. 
 
 Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) on Saturday ordered that any travelers returning from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone must get twice-daily health evaluations by state health officials for 21 days. There has not been a case of Ebola in Florida. Scott said the policy was put into place out of frustration that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had not provided risk assessments for four people who had entered the state from the Ebola-stricken nations. The measures go beyond federal guidelines and the recommendations of infectious-disease experts. 
 
 The states’ policies have drawn criticism from infectious-disease experts and humanitarian organizations. 
 
 “These are the real heroes, and we want to do everything we can to support them, not isolate and deter them,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University and the director of the World Health Organization’s center on public-health law. “The public and politicians understand that you need to attack terrorism at its source, but somehow they fail to understand that is equally and probably more true with infectious diseases.” 
 
 Medical experts complain that the responses of New Jersey and New York are not grounded in science. Ebola can be spread only through contact with bodily fluids and only once symptoms appear. So the best way to ensure that returning health-care workers do not carry the virus is to monitor them for symptoms, they say. 
 
 Health officials will conduct the twice-daily evaluations in subjects’ homes and can put into quarantine anyone they determine to be “high-risk,” said Frank Collins, a spokesman for the governor’s office. 
 
 The White House has tried to quell anxieties about the danger of Ebola spreading in the United States. In his weekly address to the nation, Obama stressed that only a handful of people have been diagnosed with the virus in this country. 
 
 “We have to keep leading the global response,” Obama said. “We have to be guided by science, guided by facts, not by fear.” 
 
 Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report.
– Chris Christie may have a pretty irate nurse taking the Garden State to task over the execution of his mandatory-quarantine policy toward Ebola, but he's standing by it. "I think this is a policy that will become a national policy sooner rather than later," he told Fox News Sunday today, as per Politico. "It was my conclusion that we needed to do this to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey. We have taken this action, and I have no second thoughts about it." Fellow Republican Darrell Issa, meanwhile, says that New Jersey's quarantine—like those in Illinois and New York—is an attempt to compensate for the White House's lack of leadership on Ebola, but probably not the best course. "Science has told us that if someone doesn’t have an elevated temperature or the other later symptoms, that we can rely on them not being contagious," he said. "If that’s true, then immediate isolation of people for 21 days is not the answer. Again, trust matters." Elsewhere on your Sunday dial: National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci: "Asymptomatic (people) do not transmit. That doesn't mean we're cavalier about it, but that means there are other steps (to avoid the) unintended consequences of disincentivizing health care workers." Per the AP: "The best way to protect us is to stop the epidemic in Africa, and we need those health care workers so we do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power: Returning American health care workers need to be "treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done."