Quarantine-defying Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox, now home in Maine after escaping Chris Christie’s bluster in New Jersey, flaunted her freedom in the most Maine way possible this morning: by going on a bike ride. While health officials in the state are insisting she stay inside until November 10, when her 21-day incubation period ends, Hickox, who served with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone but has twice tested negative for the virus and shown no symptoms, keeps pushing the boundaries.
Last night, “Hickox made her point when she stepped outside the home,” the Associated Press reports. “After speaking to reporters, she shook a hand offered by one of the reporters.”
Now she’s really gone wild:
According to the AP, Hickox was “followed by state police who were monitoring her movements and public interactions. Police couldn’t detain her without a court order signed by a judge.” Maine is working on a court order to require her to stay inside. The state’s health commissioner said she “did not understand” why Hickox insists on challenging the “common-sense approach.”
Her attorney, Norman Siegel, told CNN that the attempts at quarantine are “based … on fear and on myth, not on medical fact.” “The government can’t take away your liberty unless there’s some compelling basis for it,” he said. “It doesn’t exist here.”
When she arrived at Newark airport last week, Hickox was held by New Jersey’s own quarantine order, and kept in a showerless tent outside the hospital. She was eventually allowed to return home, and Governor Christie suggested she quit her whining because she had “access to the internet and takeout food from the best restaurants in Newark.” That restaurant was later revealed to be Kentucky Fried Chicken.
“Whatever,” said Christie about the threat of a lawsuit. “Get in line. I’ve been sued lots of times before. Get in line. I’m happy to take it on.”
Don’t challenge her, man.
