Bottom line, we don't know what we don't know, and science is not perfect. A little caution should be tolerated and not be a political weapon. Implementation of policies by poorly trained people is always rough and difficult, but we should err on the side of caution.

Too much of the current policies recommended relies on individual cooperation and honesty. My experience with human beings is that many are not honest and will take a narcissistic attitude to take care of their own desires.

We can take caution and protect civil rights at the same time, they are not mutually exclusive.

For six years, Mayra Martinez had been going to the same beautician in Queens, and considered her a friend. On Saturday, while getting her hair done, Ms. Martinez, 45, mentioned she had just gotten a new job. “Where?” the beautician asked. “Bellevue,” Ms. Martinez said. “She just froze and asked, ‘Are you anywhere near him?” Ms. Martinez recalled. Then the beautician asked her to please find someone else to do her hair. By “him,” the beautician meant Dr. Craig Spencer, who is New York’s first Ebola patient. As Bellevue Hospital Center goes into its seventh day of treating Dr. Spencer, who had worked with Doctors Without Borders in Guinea, some of its employees are feeling stigmatized — a harsh consequence of being the first hospital in the city to deal with an outbreak that has killed about 5,000 people in West Africa, and which is known to kill about half the people who become infected.

Bellevue’s medical director, Dr. Nate Link, said more than a dozen employees — not limited to those taking care of Dr. Spencer — had reported being discriminated against, including not being welcome at a business or social event. One employee lost a teaching position, he said.