At the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if people tend to let their guard down in the days and hours before they leave the country.

Instead of quarantining by default, I think it would be interesting to offer a free, relaxing vacation in a low population density region to people who are returning from helping in Africa. i.e. you cannot leave West Africa and return to a major city directly. Instead you fly back to your home country by way of a desirable destination and hang out there for a few weeks.

Given gov't budgets in disease prevention, they're more likely to quarantine people in prions than a relaxing vacation

It would be really cheap for the rest of us to provide "the basics", e.g. a flatscreen TV (get the cableco or DirectTV and/or Dish to donate service), Internet connection (ditto on trying to get it for free from a provider) and if needed a computer, and then it won't be that onerous. Historically to my knowledge we typically haven't gone the prison route outside of special cases like Typhoid Mary.

I think this is something like selection bias: had he contracted ebola earlier he wouldn't have returned to the US, or maybe would have been shipped back for treatment, which would be a very different headline.

That's just the average. It can be over 42 days.

Maximum observed incubation period for Ebola is 21 days.

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/declaration-ebola-end/e...

Got a source for that?

"Background: 21 days has been regarded as the appropriate quarantine period for holding individuals potentially exposed to Ebola Virus (EV) to reduce risk of contagion. There does not appear to be a systematic discussion of the basis for this period.

Methods: The prior estimates for incubation time to EV were examined, along with data on the first 9 months of the current outbreak. These provided estimates of the distribution of incubation times.

Results: A 21 day period for quarantine may result in the release of individuals with a 0.2 – 12% risk of release prior to full opportunity for the incubation to proceed. It is suggested that a detailed cost-benefit assessment, including considering full transmission risks, needs to occur in order to determine the appropriate quarantine period for potentially exposed individuals."

http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/on-the-quarantine...

WHO claims 2 to 21 days from infection to symptoms

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/faq-ebola/en/