Are mandatory quarantines for health care workers coming from West Africa fair?

Whose rights are being infringed upon: doctors who’ve served in West Africa forced into mandatory quarantines or citizens who fear exposure to Ebola if they’re not?

A nurse is threatening to sue after being forced into a mandatory quarantine in New Jersey after an order from Gov. Chris Christie to quarantine people arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport from three West African countries.

Some are saying the quarantine order is unconstitutional, but Tom & Curley host John Curley said we should be considering not just the rights and protections of these doctors and nurses, but also others who may be impacted in the community.

“How about the civil rights of everybody in New York and New Jersey? Are their rights not being infringed upon by having somebody who is walking around with possible Ebola?”

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who volunteered in Africa with Doctors Without Borders, was forced to spend her weekend in a tent in New Jersey, despite having no symptoms other than a temperature she blamed on “inhumane” treatment at Newark International Airport.

New Jersey’s Health Department said Monday Hickox was to be released and flown on a private carrier to Maine. An agency statement said she’d been symptom-free for 24 hours; Hickox has said she never had symptoms and tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation.

Hickox, the first person affected by New Jersey’s mandatory 21-day quarantine for medical workers returning from West Africa, was talking about suing to protect the rights of other health care workers, and the American Civil Liberties Union also warned against overly coercive measures.

But New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said at a political campaign event Monday that the protection of his citizens comes first.

“When she has time to reflect, she’ll understand,” Christie said.

Co-host Tom Tangney thinks the mandatory quarantines issued in New Jersey, New York, and Illinois are an overreaction.

“I think we can back off and say, OK, we are overreacting. Back during the AIDS crisis, people in the NBA were refusing to even play if Magic Johnson was allowed to play. People don’t know and get afraid and think I’d rather be safe than sorry kind of approach. But when you have governments that can force people to do things, it might be a little bit of an overreach.”

The Obama administration considers the policies in New York and New Jersey “not grounded in science” and conveyed its concerns to Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a senior administration official told The Associated Press Sunday. The official wasn’t authorized to comment by name and insisted on anonymity.

Cuomo said the state will pay the salary for those held if they aren’t paid by a volunteer organization for their time in quarantine. It wasn’t immediately clear if other states will make similar offers.

Obama said any measures involving health care workers “should be crafted so as not to unnecessarily discourage those workers from serving.”

Curley said he’d be willing to enter a quarantine as part of his service to helping fight Ebola.

“If I go over there, I serve and I’m there in West Africa, I’m doing my part, and I know when I come back, for the safety of everyone else, I’m going to be in a quarantine area in a hospital for 21 days. I’m OK with that.”

But Tom said he’s sure if Curley found himself in quarantine, he wouldn’t really be that OK with it.

“I can’t wait until you get quarantined when you come back from Haiti,” said Tom. “You’ll be bitching and moaning like nobody’s business.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.