US nurse threatens court action to avoid Ebola isolation
A US nurse who is in isolation after treating Ebola patients in west Africa says she is prepared to go to court if the state tries to quarantine her.
Kaci Hickox spoke to NBC’s Today show and ABC’s Good Morning America from Fort Kent in Maine.
She said she will have had no contact with anyone for two days, but if the restrictions are not lifted by tomorrow, she will go to court to fight for her freedom.
She says the quarantine policies are “not scientifically or constitutionally just”.
Ms Hickox was the first person forced into New Jersey’s mandatory quarantine after arriving at Newark Liberty Airport.
She spent the weekend in a quarantine tent but said she never had Ebola symptoms and tested negative in a preliminary evaluation.
Ms Hickox, a Doctors Without Borders volunteer, is scheduled to be quarantined at home for 21 days after the last possible exposure to the disease, following the state’s health protocols.
Her lawyers say New Jersey should follow Centres for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which require only monitoring, not quarantine, for healthcare workers who show no symptoms after treating Ebola patients.
