Situation concerning whooping cough

Something happened yesterday to my daughter and I was just wondering what everyone thinks about it. She is 31, married, and has two kids. They are 11 and 9. A couple weeks ago, her son developed symptoms indicative of whooping cough and took him to the er. They did some tests and said that they would have the results in a few days. Turns out, he had it and got some medicine for it. My daughter also got some medicine for her daughter. Fast forward to yesterday. My daughter got a call from the hospital that did the tests on my grandson and asked her if she had gotten medicine for the entire family. She said just the kids because her and her husband don't have any insurance. She was told that the hospital would call in a prescription for her and her husband without coming in to be seen, which would of been alright, but they couldn't afford the medicine. Then today, she received a phone call from the local health department, asking if she had gotten her prescriptions filled. She explained that they couldn't afford it right now and they told her that they would see what they could do to help, but that they needed to take the medicine. Now, when I heard this, my first thought was, who are they to be telling a person that they have to take any kind of medication. I know whooping cough is very contagious, but by this time, both kids were fine and my daughter and her husband have no symptoms. I told my daughter that if it had been me, I would have asked them what business it was of theirs. I am a grown person and don't need anybody telling me that I have to take any kind of medicine, I don't care what it's for. Maybe I'm wrong. What does everyone think about this entire situation? Sorry this was so long winded.

I am guessing they are trying to prevent an outbreak, and also based on the information I found the incubation period is 8-10 days.

The incubation period is typically seven to ten days, in infants or young children, after which there is usually mild respiratory symptoms, mild coughing, sneezing, or runny nose. This is known as the catarrhal stage. After one to two weeks, the coughing classically develops into uncontrollable fits, each with five to ten forceful coughs, followed by a high-pitched "whoop" sound in younger children, or a gasping sound in older children, as the patient struggles to breathe in afterwards (paroxysmal stage). Fits can occur on their own or can be triggered by yawning, stretching, laughing, eating or yelling; they usually occur in groups, with multiple episodes every hour around the clock. This stage lasts two to eight weeks, or sometimes longer. A gradual transition then occurs to the convalescent stage, which usually lasts one to two weeks. This stage is marked by a decrease in paroxysms of coughing, both in frequency and severity, and a cessation of vomiting. Common complications of the disease include pneumonia, encephalopathy, earache, or seizures. Infection in newborns is particularly severe.

Whooping cough is nothing to take lightly, so they are just probably trying to prevent anything from happening. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure in circumstances like these.

My small town paper had a front page warning about it. I wont type it all but some highlights-
"encouraging everyone to get a whopping cough vaccination during what officials say is the worst whooping cough (w.p from this point forward) i nearly 50 years."

"nearly 2,000 cases reported in Texas an 6,500 and 10 infant deaths in California lone."

I think it's fantastic that the local hospital and local health department are advising and obtaining the medicine for the family so they won't spread whooping cough around.

This medicine is not to protect the family, although it is likely to mitigate symptoms somewhat.
It's to protect their contacts and stop the family from beginning an outbreak. How would the parents feel later if another child dies because they didn't want to take safe, free medicine?

Feeling healthy is no indication that you cannot pass the disease on. You can be contageous for up to 3 weeks before showing symptoms.

You can infect a lot of people in that time.
On average, one in a hundred babies infected with whooping cough will die.