Maine nurse in Ebola flap says she'll respect town's wishes

FORT KENT, Maine - A nurse who successfully fought Maine's quarantine for health care workers who have treated Ebola patients says she had no option but to challenge how medical professionals were being treated.

Kaci Hickox says in an interview with the Maine Sunday Telegram she was fighting for the rights of other U.S. medical workers who are trying to bring the deadly outbreak under control in West Africa.

After she arrived in Maine last week, state health officials went to court in an attempt to bar her from crowded public places. A judge ruled Friday she must continue daily monitoring of her health but can go wherever she pleases.

But Hickox now says she will respect the wishes of town residents and avoid going into town during the illness's 21-day incubation period, which for her ends Nov. 10.

In a case that has come to encapsulate the clash in the U.S. between personal freedom and fear of Ebola, Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere ruled that there is no need to isolate her or restrict her movements because she has no symptoms and is therefore not contagious.

The judge also decried the "misconceptions, misinformation, bad science and bad information" circulating about the lethal disease in the U.S.

After the ruling, a state police cruiser that had been posted outside Hickox's home left, and she and her boyfriend stepped outside to thank the judge.

Hickox, 33, called it "a good day" and said her "thoughts, prayers and gratitude" remain with those who are still battling Ebola in West Africa. She said she had no immediate plans other than to watch a scary movie at home on Halloween.

Gov. Paul LePage said he disagreed with the ruling but will abide by it.

"As governor, I have done everything I can to protect the health and safety of Mainers. The judge has eased restrictions with this ruling, and I believe it is unfortunate," LePage said.

Later in the day, the governor lashed out at Hickox, saying: "She has violated every promise she has made so far, so I can't trust her. I don't trust her. And I don't trust that we know enough about this disease to be so callous."

Hickox was thrust into the center of a national debate after she returned to the U.S. last week from treating Ebola victims in West Africa as a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders.

On Thursday, after Hickox refused to stay home and abide by what Maine called a voluntary quarantine, the state went to court to try to impose restrictions on her until the 21-day incubation period for Ebola ends on Nov. 10. State health officials were willing to let her go out on a jog or a bike ride, but wanted to bar her from crowded public places and require her to stay at least 3 feet from others.

Hickox's quarantine in Maine - and, before that, in New Jersey, upon her arrival back in the U.S. - led humanitarian groups, the White House and many scientists to warn that automatically quarantining medical workers is unnecessary and could cripple the fight against Ebola by discouraging volunteers like Hickox from going to danger zone.

Hickox contended that confinement at her home in Fort Kent, a town of 4,300 people in far northern Maine along the Canadian border, violated her rights and was unsupported by science. She twice violated the quarantine by going outside her home - once to go on a bike ride and once to talk to the media and shake a reporter's hand.