With state troopers monitoring her home, a nurse in the eye of a growing storm over state-ordered quarantines for health workers who have treated Ebola patients met the media late Wednesday after vowing that she would leave her home if Maine officials did not lift their restrictions on her by the following day.
State officials are seeking a court order to detain Kaci Hickox for the remainder of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola that ends on Nov. 10. While the request is pending, state police say they plan to monitor Hickox's movements and interactions, but cannot take her into custody without a judge's permission.
Hickox, accompanied by her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, met with the media in the driveway of her home in Fort Kent Wednesday night. The nurse, who returned from Sierra Leone last week after working with Doctors Without Borders, said that she had made no progress in her attempts to negotiate an end to her quarantine with state officials.
If a judge grants the state request, then Hickox will appeal the decision on constitutional grounds, necessitating a hearing, Hickox attorney Norman Siegel said.
"I'm not willing to stand here and let my civil rights be violated when it's not science-based," Hickox said. She contends there's no need for her to be quarantined because she's showing no symptoms of Ebola.
The Portland Press Herald reported that Hickox appeared healthy and spoke calmly. At one point, she shook the hand of a British reporter who offered to do so after she stated that she did not have the virus and denied being contagious.
"You could hug me. You could shake my hand. I would not give you Ebola," Hickox told the man.
The Press Herald reported that Wilbur had checked with state police before Hickox emerged from the house to ensure that she would not be arrested before she spoke.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who instituted the 21-day quarantine order Monday, has canceled campaign events to keep tabs on the situation. He maintains that 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." 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.
"If somebody isn't showing signs of the infection, then it's kind of hard to say someone should be under mandatory quarantine," attorney Jackie L. Caynon III, who specializes in health law in Worcester, Massachusetts, told the Associated Press.
Earlier Wednesday, Hickox told NBC's "Today" that she doesn't "plan on sticking to the guidelines" and is "appalled" by the home quarantine policies "forced" on her.
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 daily monitoring for health care workers like Hickox who have come into contact with Ebola patients. But some states like Maine are going above and beyond those guidelines.
The defense department is going even further. On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered military men and women helping fight Ebola to undergo 21-day quarantines that start upon their return — instead of their last exposure to an Ebola patient.
President Barack Obama warned that overly restrictive measures imposed upon returning health care workers could discourage them from volunteering in Africa.
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