Story highlights Cuomo changes policy on quarantining Ebola health care workers

White House says Ebola policy must "be guided by the best medical science"

New York Times says White House pressuring Govs. Chris Christie, Andrew Cuomo

N.Y., N.J. implemented a 21-day quarantine on workers returning from treating Ebola patients

Health care workers returning to New York who've had contact with Ebola patients but don't show symptoms can serve a mandatory 21-day quarantine in their homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday night.

This is a change in the recently instituted state policy on health workers who return to the United States from the Ebola zone.

Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had jointly announced a mandatory quarantine policy on Friday. Over the weekend, the Obama administration lobbied the governors to change it.

The temperatures of a asymptomatic health care workers will be checked twice daily. Returning health care workers who show symptoms of the Ebola virus will be transported to hospitals for mandatory quarantine, according to a fact sheet on the new guidelines.

People who return from the Ebola zones but didn't have contact with Ebola patients will be handled on a case-by-case basis, the fact sheet said.

The fact sheet said the state would provide financial assistance to the quarantined health workers if their employers do not.

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In New Jersey, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts said the Garden State's policy also allows at-home quarantines.

"New Jersey is not changing its quarantine protocol. The protocol is clear that a New Jersey resident with no symptoms, but who has come into contact with someone with Ebola, such as a health care provider, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and quarantined at home," Roberts said. "Nonresidents would be transported to their homes if feasible and, if not, quarantined in New Jersey."

The Obama administration has been urging Cuomo and Christie to reverse their recently enacted policies that require a 21-day quarantine for all health workers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The conflict has taken place privately in phone calls and negotiations, with federal officials saying they think the governors are wrong about needing a total quarantine, the Times reported.

A senior administration official told CNN on Sunday that "we have let the governors of New York, New Jersey and others states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences of policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source in West Africa."

President Barack Obama met with his Ebola response team Sunday.

"The President underscored that the steps we take must be guided by the best medical science," a White House statement said. "He also emphasized that these measures must recognize that health care workers are an indispensable element of our effort ... and should be crafted so as not to unnecessarily discourage those workers from serving."

Also on Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio talked about Ebola at a news conference but didn't offer any direct criticism of Cuomo or Christie. He did, however, mention a nurse under quarantine in New Jersey, saying "what happened to her was inappropriate."

'Disincentive for the health care workers'

A top federal health official publicly criticized Christie and Cuomo on Sunday, saying the two states' quarantine rule could discourage health workers from helping fight Ebola in Africa, which would ultimately endanger the United States.

"I'm concerned of the disincentive for the health care workers," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

A federal policy starting Monday requires all travelers coming to the United States from Ebola-affected areas to be actively monitored for 21 days.

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Photos: The Ebola epidemic Photos: The Ebola epidemic An Ebola survivor participates in a study in Monrovia, Liberia, on June 17, 2015. The country launched a five-year study to unravel the mystery of the long-term health effects that plague survivors of the viral disease. Since the epidemic started more than a year ago in a remote village in Guinea, more than 11,000 people have died, the vast majority in three West African nations, according to the latest numbers from the World Health Organization . And that number is believed to be low, since there was widespread under-reporting of cases, according to WHO. Hide Caption 1 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Women in Monrovia celebrate after the World Health Organization declared Liberia Ebola-free on May 9, 2015. Other cases have recurred since, however. Two people in Liberia have died of the disease since the end of June, just weeks after the WHO declared the nation free of the disease. Hide Caption 2 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man walks past an Ebola awareness painting in Monrovia on March 22, 2015. Hide Caption 3 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division walk across the tarmac at Campbell Army Airfield before reuniting with their families at a homecoming ceremony March 21, 2015 in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 162 soldiers were deployed in Liberia, where they helped fight the spread of Ebola. Hide Caption 4 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Relatives weep for a loved one who it was believed died from Ebola, at a graveyard on the outskirts of Monrovia on March 11, 2015. Hide Caption 5 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Doctors Without Borders staffer Alex Eilert Paulsen watches as mattresses and bed frames burn at the Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, Liberia, on January 31, 2015. The organization reduced its number of beds from 250 to 30 as gains were made in battling the virus. Hide Caption 6 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Pauline Cafferkey, a Scottish woman diagnosed with Ebola, is put on a plane in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 30, 2014. Cafferkey, a 39-year-old nurse who volunteered in Sierra Leone, was being transported to London for treatment. Hide Caption 7 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A child who survived the Ebola virus is fed by another survivor at a treatment center on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone, on November 11, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers in Monrovia cover the body of a man suspected of dying from the Ebola virus on October 31, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Kaci Hickox leaves her home in Fort Kent, Maine, to take a bike ride with her boyfriend on October 30, 2014. Hickox, a nurse, recently returned to the United States from West Africa, where she treated Ebola victims. State authorities wanted her to avoid public places for 21 days -- the virus' incubation period. But Hickox, who twice tested negative for Ebola, said she would defy efforts to keep her quarantined at home. Hide Caption 10 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health officials in Nairobi, Kenya, prepare to screen passengers arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on October 28, 2014. Hide Caption 11 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic U.S. President Barack Obama hugs Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House on October 24, 2014. Pham, one of two Dallas nurses diagnosed with the virus, was declared Ebola-free after being treated at a hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The other nurse, Amber Vinson (not pictured), was treated in Atlanta and also declared Ebola-free. Hide Caption 12 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers in Port Loko, Sierra Leone, transport the body of a person who is suspected to have died of Ebola on October 21, 2014. Hide Caption 13 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health workers bury a body on the outskirts of Monrovia on October 20, 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Garteh Korkoryah, center, is comforted during a memorial service for her son, Thomas Eric Duncan, on October 18, 2014, in Salisbury, North Carolina. Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian citizen, died October 8 in a Dallas hospital. He was in the country to visit his son and his son's mother, and he was the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola. Hide Caption 15 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Boys run from blowing dust as a U.S. military aircraft leaves the construction site of an Ebola treatment center in Tubmanburg, Liberia, on October 15, 2014. Hide Caption 16 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Aid workers from the Liberian Medical Renaissance League stage an Ebola awareness event October 15, 2014, in Monrovia. The group performs street dramas throughout Monrovia to educate the public on Ebola symptoms and how to handle people who are infected with the virus. Hide Caption 17 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Ebola survivors prepare to leave a Doctors Without Borders treatment center after recovering from the virus in Paynesville, Liberia, on October 12, 2014. Hide Caption 18 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man dressed in protective clothing treats the front porch of a Dallas apartment on October 12, 2014. The apartment is home to one of the two nurses who were diagnosed with Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national who traveled to Dallas and later died from the virus. Hide Caption 19 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A woman crawls toward the body of her sister as a burial team takes her away for cremation October 10, 2014, in Monrovia. The sister had died from Ebola earlier in the morning while trying to walk to a treatment center, according to her relatives. Hide Caption 20 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A man digs a grave on October 7, 2014, outside an Ebola treatment center near Gbarnga, Liberia. Hide Caption 21 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A person peeks out from the Dallas apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States, was staying on October 3, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A girl cries as community activists approach her outside her Monrovia home on October 2, 2014, a day after her mother was taken to an Ebola ward. Hide Caption 23 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health official uses a thermometer September 29, 2014, to screen a Ukrainian crew member on the deck of a cargo ship at the Apapa port in Lagos, Nigeria. Hide Caption 24 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Workers move a building into place as part of a new Ebola treatment center in Monrovia on September 28, 2014. Hide Caption 25 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Medics load an Ebola patient onto a plane at Sierra Leone's Freetown-Lungi International Airport on September 22, 2014. Hide Caption 26 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A few people are seen in Freetown during a three-day nationwide lockdown on September 21, 2014. In an attempt to curb the spread of the Ebola virus, people in Sierra Leone were told to stay in their homes. Hide Caption 27 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Supplies wait to be loaded onto an aircraft at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on September 20, 2014. It was the largest single shipment of aid to the Ebola zone to date, and it was coordinated by the Clinton Global Initiative and other U.S. aid organizations. Hide Caption 28 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A child stops on a Monrovia street September 12, 2014, to look at a man who is suspected of suffering from Ebola. Hide Caption 29 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic After an Ebola case was confirmed in Senegal, people load cars with household items as they prepare to cross into Guinea from the border town of Diaobe, Senegal, on September 3, 2014. Hide Caption 30 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health worker wearing a protective suit conducts an Ebola prevention drill at the port in Monrovia on August 29, 2014. Hide Caption 31 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A burial team from the Liberian Ministry of Health unloads bodies of Ebola victims onto a funeral pyre at a crematorium in Marshall, Liberia, on August 22, 2014. Hide Caption 32 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Dr. Kent Brantly leaves Emory University Hospital on August 21, 2014, after being declared no longer infectious from the Ebola virus. Brantly was one of two American missionaries brought to Emory for treatment of the deadly virus. Hide Caption 33 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic An Ebola Task Force soldier beats a local resident while enforcing a quarantine on the West Point slum on August 20, 2014. Hide Caption 34 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Local residents gather around a very sick Saah Exco, 10, in a back alley of the West Point slum on August 19, 2014. The boy was one of the patients that was pulled out of a holding center for suspected Ebola patients after the facility was overrun and closed by a mob on August 16. A local clinic then refused to treat Saah, according to residents, because of the danger of infection. Although he was never tested for Ebola, Saah's mother and brother died in the holding center. Hide Caption 35 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Workers prepare the new Ebola treatment center on August 17, 2014. Hide Caption 36 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Liberian police depart after firing shots in the air while trying to protect an Ebola burial team in the West Point slum of Monrovia on August 16, 2014. A crowd of several hundred local residents reportedly drove away the burial team and their police escort. The mob then forced open an Ebola isolation ward and took patients out, saying the Ebola epidemic is a hoax. Hide Caption 37 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A health worker disinfects a corpse after a man died in a classroom being used as an Ebola isolation ward August 15, 2014, in Monrovia. Hide Caption 38 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Aid worker Nancy Writebol, wearing a protective suit, gets wheeled on a gurney into Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on August 5, 2014. A medical plane flew Writebol from Liberia to the United States after she and her colleague Dr. Kent Brantly were infected with the Ebola virus in the West African country. Hide Caption 39 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Members of Doctors Without Borders adjust tents in the isolation area in Kailahun on July 20, 2014. Hide Caption 40 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Boots dry in the Ebola treatment center in Kailahun on July 20, 2014. Hide Caption 41 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Dr. Jose Rovira of the World Health Organization takes a swab from a suspected Ebola victim in Pendembu, Sierra Leone, on July 18, 2014. Hide Caption 42 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Red Cross volunteers disinfect each other with chlorine after removing the body of an Ebola victim from a house in Pendembu on July 18, 2014. Hide Caption 43 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic A scientist separates blood cells from plasma cells to isolate any Ebola RNA and test for the virus April 3, 2014, at the European Mobile Laboratory in Gueckedou, Guinea. Hide Caption 44 of 45 Photos: The Ebola epidemic Health specialists work March 31, 2014, at an isolation ward for patients at the facility in southern Guinea. Hide Caption 45 of 45

The quarantine policy announced by Cuomo and Christie came one day after a doctor who treated patients in Guinea became the first Ebola case diagnosed in New York City and the fourth in the United States.

Illinois also implemented a new rule. It is requiring "high-risk individuals who have had direct contact with an individual infected with the Ebola virus while in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea" to undergo a mandatory 21-day home quarantine, according to a news release from Gov. Pat Quinn's office issued on Friday.

Christie says he's not backing down

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sets baseline recommendations. But state and local officials have the prerogative to set tighter policies.

Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, expressed worries about stigmatizing health workers.

In an interview aired Sunday before she traveled to Ebola-affected nations in West Africa, Power told NBC, "We need many more than are going right now. We need to find a way when they come home that they are treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they've done."

The Pentagon Sunday would not say whether it's willing to still send an active duty military Ebola response team to states ordering mandatory quarantine for Ebola health care workers.

The 30-person team finishes training Monday and will then be ready for deployment on 72 hours notice. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would have to approve any deployment.

The new policy for New York and New Jersey was implemented the same day nurse Kaci Hickox landed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. She had worked with Doctors Without Borders, treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

New federal policy starts Monday

"This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated," Hickox told CNN's Candy Crowley in an exclusive interview on "State of the Union."

The new federal policy, which starts Monday, requires all travelers coming to the United States from Ebola-affected areas to be actively monitored for 21 days.

Already, such travelers landing at five U.S. airports -- New York's Kennedy, Washington's Dulles, New Jersey's Newark Liberty, Chicago's O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta -- must go through enhanced screening

Ebola has killed nearly 5,000 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, in what health officials call the worst outbreak of the disease in history.

New York Ebola patient's fiancee cleared

A New York doctor who tested positive for the Ebola virus was listed in serious but stable condition on Sunday, according to New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation President Dr. Ram Raju.

Dr. Craig Spencer, 33, is in isolation at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He arrived back from Guinea on October 17 and had limited his public interactions but did not eliminate them, according to officials.

Spencer's fiancee, Morgan Dixon, had been under quarantine at Bellevue, but was cleared and has no symptoms, according to Weinberg, the city health department spokeswoman.