contagious diseases and the library

here an interesting blog that i ran across today. it's basically a few emails from librarians questioning the legal and social ramifications of asking patrons with communicable diseases/illnesses like chickenpox and tuberculosis to leave the premises. probably some patrons are just interested in entertaining material while they are out of work or school, while others are in need of vital health information. virtual reference would be perfect in the latter situation, as long as the sick person had internet access at home. unlike so many other americans, i do have health insurance, but have yet to find a primary care physician since moving to seattle. it turned out to be an extremely frustrating experience this past week to find a clinic that could take me on short notice to simply look at an ear infection. i can't imagine what it must be like to have no health insurance and no access to health information. a patron could be experiencing painful symptoms and want to look up reference information for possible causes before deciding whether the extremely expensive emergency room bill would be worth it. would we then just kick them out of the library? or would we risk the health of others to help this one person? of course we could quickly give ill patrons listings for low-cost community health services, but those services are often only open during weekday business hours. by kicking such patrons out of the library, they might not seek more assistance until it is too late.