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KENT, Maine -- A nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa vowed
on Wednesday to end her voluntary quarantine, even going so far as to
step out of her home and shake a reporter's hand, signaling a showdown
with state police monitoring her and state officials seeking to legally
enforce her confinement.
Kaci Hickox broke her
quarantine by leaving her home with her boyfriend and speaking briefly
to reporters in her driveway Wednesday evening. State and local police
could only watch from across the street because a judge hadn't signed
off on a court order sought by state health officials.
She
reiterated that she planned to fight the state's quarantine and said
there was no need to stay inside because she's not exhibiting any
symptoms.
"I'm not willing to stand here and
let my civil rights be violated when it's not science-based," she told
reporters before returning inside.
One of her
lawyers, Norman Siegel, said she isn't willing to cooperate further
unless the state lifts "all or most of the restrictions." But state
officials continued to assert that she should remain in isolation until
Nov. 10, the end of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola.
A
judge would have to grant the state's request in what could serve as a
test as to the legality of state quarantines during the Ebola scare.
Until
an order is signed by a judge, state police will monitor Hickox's
movement and interactions if she leaves her home but can't physically
detain her, said Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner
Mary Mayhew.
Generally, states have broad
authority when it comes to such matters. But Maine health officials
could have a tough time convincing a judge that Hickox poses a threat,
said attorney Jackie L. Caynon III, who specializes in health law in
Worcester, Massachusetts.
"If somebody isn't
showing signs of the infection, then it's kind of hard to say someone
should be under mandatory quarantine," he said.
Ebola,
which is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an
infected person, has killed thousands of people in Africa, but only four
people have been diagnosed with it in the United States. People can't
be infected just by being near someone who's sick, and people aren't
contagious unless they're sick, health officials say.
Guidelines
from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend
monitoring for health care workers like Hickox who have come into
contact with Ebola patients. But some states, including Maine, are going
above and beyond guidelines.
Hickox, who
volunteered in Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders, was the first
person forced into New Jersey's mandatory quarantine for people arriving
at the Newark airport from three West African countries. Hickox spent
the weekend in a tent in New Jersey before traveling to the home of her
boyfriend, a nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Gov.
Paul LePage commended all health care workers who have volunteered in
Africa to treat Ebola patients. But he said the state must be "vigilant"
to protect others.
Maine law allows a judge to
grant temporary custody of someone if health officials demonstrate "a
clear and immediate public health threat."
The
state's court filing was expected late Wednesday or early Thursday,
officials said. If a judge grants the state's request, then Hickox will
appeal the decision on constitutional grounds, Siegel said.
"Our position is very simple: There's no justification for the state of Maine to quarantine her," he said.
Hickox
made her point when she stepped outside the home. After speaking to
reporters, she shook a hand offered by one of the reporters.
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