Nurse Who Fought Ebola Quarantine Plans to Leave Maine with Her Boyfriend
Kaci Hickox, the Maine nurse now (in)famous for resisting quarantine upon her return from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, plan to leave the state of Maine next week, according to The Portland Press Herald.
Hickox returned to the U.S. on Oct. 24 after volunteering for Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone and was quarantined in an isolation tent upon her arrival in New Jersey. Officials allowed her to return home to Fort Kent, Maine, where she was asked to abide by a voluntary in-home quarantine.
Though state officials threatened to legally enforce that “voluntary’’ quarantine after Hickox violated it, a judge ruled on Oct. 31 that she could not be forced into quarantine. He instead imposed three restrictions on her, requiring that she submit to daily health monitoring and keep state officials informed of her travel plans and any changes to her health.
She agreed to comply with the order, which is in effect until Monday, the 21st day since her last possible exposure to the virus. Wilbur withdrew from the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where he was a nursing student, on Friday.
The couple plans to leave mid-week, though their destination is unknown.
Wibur told The Press Herald, “We’re still trying to get our feet under us. We don’t have any plan or any idea of what we’re doing.’’
Consistently denying that she posed any danger to others, Hickox has tested negative for Ebola twice and has never displayed symptoms. On Oct. 29, she told reporters, ‘‘I’m not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it’s not science-based.’’
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