Kaci Hickox is a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and recently took a bike ride in Maine, defying an ordered quarantine. She has tested negative for the virus, and has not presented any symptoms of the disease. This ride, completed with her boyfriend Ted Wilbur in Fort Kent Maine on October 30, sets up a likely confrontation with authorities.
The 33-year-old health care worker left her home near the Canadian border, defying a state order that she remain at home until November 10. Attorneys for the woman say they have not been served papers that would mandate such a quarantine. Hickox went outside, and climbed aboard her bicycle as local police stood outside her home, but did not attempt to stop her.
"It's a beautiful day for a bike ride," Hickox said.
The nurse traveled for around three miles during the trip, avoiding downtown to prevent hysteria among townspeople and tourists in the area.
"Since there's no court order, she can be out in public. Even if people disagree with her position, I would hope they respect the fact that she's taking into account the fear, which is based on misinformation about the way the disease is transmitted," Norman Siegel, one of the lawyers for Hickox, told the press.
Paul LePage, governor of Maine, is seeking additional powers to ensure Hickox stays at home until the 21-day maximum incubation period of the virus has passed. The Republican is facing a tough re-election battle against Democrat Mike Michaud. President Obama, who opposes mandatory quarantines for Ebola, visited Maine in support of the Democratic candidate.
Ebola has raised significant concerns in the United States, although only a single person in the nation is currently being treated for the disease. Craig Spencer, housed at Bellevue, has even raised concerns from health care workers at the hospital. A large number of employees there called in sick on the day the patient was being admitted. Many of the health care workers at the facility are experiencing a stigma from people worried about potential contact with the virus.
Spencer is in stable condition, and is using his experience treating the disease to train doctors in proper procedures to take while treating an Ebola patient. He contracted the virus while volunteering with Doctors Without Borders, the same group to which Hickox belongs.
Ebola is not airborne, and cannot be transmitted by those people not suffering from symptoms. The disease spreads solely through exposure to body fluids.
Hickox said she is completely healthy, and has been monitoring her body temperature twice a day.
