Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox tells NBC’s Matt Lauer that she will not follow home quarantine guidelines.
Hickox was pulled out at Newark airport and put into mandatory quarantine under New Jersey state guidelines. She was put into a tent which was more comfortable than many quarters used by US troops serving overseas.
The former CDC nurse bucked that and threatened to sue. She described her treatment as “inhumane” and raised a fuss. New Jersey transferred her to Maine earlier this week.
Maine says that it expects Hickox to stick to a home quarantine for 21 days. But Hickox is having none of that.
“I don’t plan on sticking to the guidelines,” Hickox told Lauer. “I remain appalled by these home quarantine policies that have been forced upon me, even though I am in perfectly good health and feeling strong and have been this entire time completely symptom free.
“I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just, and so I’m not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public.”
Whether she does pose a risk to others or not is not yet known, as Ebola’s incubation period can last around 21 days. During that time, a carrier can show no symptoms, until they do, at which point they become contagious.
Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders physician, returned to the US from West Africa showing no symptoms at the time. He later came down with Ebola, and authorities were forced to expend major resources tracing his every move and warning people who had come into contact with him.
Hickox has ties to the Centers for Disease Control, which stridently opposes placing a travel ban on the Ebola-stricken countries.
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