FORT KENT, Maine (AP) – All but daring Maine health authorities to go to court to have her confined, nurse Kaci Hickox went out on a bike ride Thursday in defiance of the state’s voluntary quarantine for medical workers who have treated Ebola patients.
It was the second time in two days that she left her home in remote northern Maine, along the Canadian border. On Wednesday evening, Hickox came out and briefly spoke to reporters, even shaking a hand that was offered to her.
State officials planned to go to court Thursday to have her confined against her will in what is shaping up as the nation’s biggest test case yet in the struggle to balance public health and fear of Ebola against personal freedom.
Hickox, 33, told reporters that she hoped for a compromise with health officials, but her actions indicated she had no intention of remaining in isolation for the remainder of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola that ends on November 10.
“I really hope that we can work things out amicably and continue to negotiate,” she said as she and her boyfriend rode on a dirt path in this town of 4 300 people.
A state police cruiser followed Hickox on her hour-long bike ride, but police could not take action to detain her without a court order signed by a judge.
After returning from Africa, where she treated Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, Hickox stepped into the media glare last week when she became subject to a mandatory quarantine in New Jersey.
After being released from a hospital there, she returned to this small town, where she was placed under what Maine authorities called a voluntary quarantine.
She said she is following the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation of daily monitoring for fever and other signs of the disease. But she said she is no threat to others because she has no symptoms.
“I’m not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it’s not science-based,” she said Wednesday evening.
States have broad authority under long-established law to quarantine people to prevent the spread of disease. But legal experts said there are differences here that could work in Hickox’s favor in court: People infected with Ebola are not contagious until they have symptoms, and the virus is not spread through casual contact.
In Hickox’s case, she has tested negative for Ebola so far. But it can take days for the virus to reach detectable levels.
In Maine, state law allows a judge to confine someone if health officials demonstrate “a clear and immediate public health threat.”
If a judge grants the request, Hickox will appeal on constitutional grounds, said Norman Siegel, one of her attorneys.
Siegel said the nurse hopes her fight against the quarantine will help bring an end to misinformation about how Ebola is spread.
“She wants to have her voice in the debate about how America handles the Ebola crisis. She has an important voice and perspective,” he said.
Word spread quickly around the town about Hickox.
Priscilla Staples said that some are fearful of Hickox’s presence, but Hickox “has done nothing wrong, and she has every right in the world to go for a bike ride.”
