FORT KENT, Maine (AP) — A nurse who was confined against her will at a hospital in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in West Africa is in Maine, where state officials said she’s agreed to be quarantined, officials said Tuesday.
Nurse Kaci Hickox traveled in a private vehicle to Maine where her partner is a nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, after leaving a New Jersey hospital on Monday.
Her lawyer confirmed Tuesday that she’d arrived in Maine and said she was at an “undisclosed location.” Her boyfriend’s home in Fort Kent was quiet, with no sign of activity Tuesday morning.
Maine health officials announced that she’ll be quarantined at home for 21 days after the last possible exposure to the disease under the state’s health protocols. But one of Hickox’s lawyers, Steve Hyman, said he expected her to remain in seclusion for the “next day or so” while he works with Maine health officials.
Hyman said the state should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that require only monitoring, not quarantine, for health care workers who show no symptoms after treating Ebola patients.
“She’s a very good person who did very good work and deserves to be honored, not detained, for it,” he said.
Hickox volunteered in Africa with Doctors Without Borders. She spent the weekend in a quarantine tent in New Jersey despite having no symptoms other than a slightly elevated temperature she blamed on “inhumane” treatment at Newark Liberty International Airport.
She was the first person forced into New Jersey’s mandatory quarantine for people arriving at Newark Liberty from three West African countries.
Hickox said she never had symptoms and tested negative for Ebola in a preliminary evaluation.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were sharply criticized for ordering mandatory quarantines. But Christie said Monday that his priority is protecting the health of people in his state.
In Maine, state officials also announced a quarantine.
“Upon the healthcare workers’ return home, we will follow the guidelines set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for medical workers who have been in contact with Ebola patients,” Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement. “Additionally, we will work with the healthcare worker to establish an in-home quarantine protocol to ensure there is no direct contact with other Mainers until the period for potential infection has passed.”
But state officials said later it was only a voluntary quarantine.
“We fully expect individuals to voluntarily comply with an in-home quarantine,” LePage spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett said Monday. “If an individual is not compliant, the state is prepared to take appropriate action.”
Bennett did not immediately say what “appropriate action” might be.
In Fort Kent, Northern Maine Medical Center is ready to care for an Ebola-infected patient, if necessary, a spokeswoman said.
Hickox and her partner, Ted Wilbur, had moved recently to Fort Kent, where Wilbur is a senior nursing student, family members said.
WAGM-TV said Wilbur was given the choice of staying on campus in student housing over the next few weeks or temporarily suspending classes to stay with Hickox in his off-campus home during the quarantine period. A University of Maine system spokesman said he couldn’t confirm details of discussions with Wilbur.
Wilbur’s uncle Tom Wilbur said that Hickox should be trusted to make good decisions and that medical decisions should be grounded in science and not “hysteria.”
“She’s very much a professional,” he said. “And she’s very bright. And if she were running a fever, she would be the first to take action.”
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Associated Press writer David Sharp in Portland contributed to this report.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
“She’s a very good person who did very good work and deserves to be honored, not detained, for it,” (her lawyer) said.
Seriously. People risk their lives to give medical care under difficult circumstances to people in need, and we don’t even trust them to adequately monitor their temperatures and seek help if needed. Who is going to go help with this outbreak if they know that in return they could be imprisoned, or maybe not allowed to return? Who would want to accused of being irresponsible and a public menace by nationally viewed talking heads on a 24 hour news cycle?
If only we could quarantine Fox, CNN, and pandering politicians for 21 days until the hysteria died down.
These people are selfless heroes, doing horrendous work in horrendous conditions, and what they are doing over there in Africa, is trying tirelessly to stop the Ebola epidemic, which is the ONLY way that is going to ultimately keep this country and the rest of the world safe from the disease, and we should NOT be treating these people like lepers when they return home here.
The totally inept, ego driven way that Christie treated this woman is despicable and abysmal. Yes, he probably does have the right as Governor to order this ridiculous quarantine, however he does not have the right to suspend her civil rights, and to keep her in worse conditions then we afford those in Gitmo, or our prisons.
Christie, being the cheap political opportunist that he is, mistakenly thought this made him look like a real leader and Presidential material, while of course getting his pot shots in again at the President. By showing how poorly prepared his state was for this stupid quarantine he ordered, with absolutely no protocol, leaving this nurse in a limbo hell, where no one could tell her what was going to happen to her, he accomplished the exact opposite. He instead showed that he will not think things through, before making knee jerk reactions that he thinks makes him look good, while he doesn’t care if he violates the rights of others. He is an inept fool, who can not even run his state, and in no way is qualified to ever be President.
Let’s put Christie in permanent quarantine. He’s a far greater threat to public health than these brave, smart, disciplined volunteers.
These are the very people we will rely on to keep Ebola from becoming a threat here in the United States. Their skills and experience are invaluable, and should be celebrated, not censured.
Thank god she’s now out of NJ, governed by that arrogant blowhard, and in Maine, governed by…oh…wait…
The problem is Mr Christie is shy of putting MD after his name .