Maine nurse defies quarantine order by taking bike ride

FORT KENT, Maine -- An Ebola nurse went bike riding with her boyfriend Thursday morning, defying state orders to remain at home for 21 days.
Kaci Hickox, who recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa, told reporters late Wednesday that day-long negotiations had failed to resolve a deadlock over the state's instructions.
The 33-year-old nurse, who earlier vowed to ignore the state order beginning Thursday, and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, stepped off the front porch of his house and rode off on bicycles, followed by state police.
Hickox appeared to test at least the spirit of the state order Wednesday night by stepping off the front porch of her boyfriend's home to speak to the media and shake hands with one reporter.
"It is not my intention to put anyone at risk in this community," she said. "We have been negotiating with the state of Maine all day and tried to resolve this amicably, but they will not allow me to leave my house and have any interaction with the public even though I am completely healthy and symptom free."
Hickox, a nurse with Doctors Without Borders, arrived in Maine on Monday after being forcibly held in an isolation tent in New Jersey for three days under that state's strict new law for health care workers who have recently treated Ebola patients in West Africa.
Hickox was the first person pulled aside at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday under new state regulations after her return from Sierra Leone, one of the West African countries hardest hit by an deadly Ebola outbreak.
She has not displayed symptoms of Ebola and was allowed to leave New Jersey Monday, traveling by private car to her boyfriend's home in Fort Kent, a rural town near the Canadian border.
"We have to make decisions on science and I am completely healthy," she said, standing next to her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur. "You could hug me, you could shake my hand. There is no way I would give you Ebola."
Maine health officials, who have instructed her to remain at the house for 21 days, say they don't have the authority yet to prevent her from leaving her home until a judge signs off on a court order.
Gov. Paul LePage said Wednesday that he was seeking that legal authority. For now, Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew says police -- who sent two vehicles to the house on Wednesday will monitor the nurse if she leaves her house.
Hickox shied away from commenting on LePage's involvement, saying she is "sticking to the science and away from the politics."
"I didn't sign up for this," she said. " I flew into Newark airport on the wrong day. This has all been a little overwhelming to me. I think I am fighting for something much more than myself."
Hickox said two dozen American health workers will be returning from West Africa in the next month and "it scares me how they are going to be treated and how they are going to feel." She said she wanted to fight the kind of "stigmatization" once associated with AIDS.
She said Wednesday that she had offered a compromise to the state in which she would agree to stay within the Fort Kent area and to travel only by private car, not public transportation.
"I'd love to be able to go to the Moose Shack in Fort Kent and get an amazing slice of pizza and not be worried about what people are thinking or if I am going to get arrested by state troopers if I walk out of my property," she said.
.Northern Maine Medical Center says Hickox had originally agreed to a 21-day quarantine, according to WLBZ-TV. NMMC also said Wilbur had also agreed to a self-quarantine for 21 days and will be taking UMaine Fort Kent nursing classes online. There is no word on whether he would abide by quarantine for the full period.
Hickox, according to her attorney, had only agreed to remain home for two days after arriving from New Jersey.
                                                                                                                From USATODAY.COM