Kaci Hickox, the nurse who was quarantined against her for Ebola will and defied state authorities, and her boyfriend believe they will not “get anyone sick,” her boyfriend has said.
Ted Wilbur, her boyfriend, said that “this thing doesn’t just affect Kaci,” according to CNN affiliate WCHS.
He added, “And when people are going to be coming home from different parts of the world and West Africa, it’s just not affecting the aid workers and what not. It’s affecting their partners.”
On Thursday, the couple went for a bike ride and were trailed by police and journalists.
“If anyone in the community might have noticed, we went bicycling that way. We did not go into town,” he said, per the affiliate.
“We did not go into the grocery store. We are not trying to get anyone sick,” he added. “We don’t believe that we can get anyone sick. We’re not trying to push any limits here. We’re members of this community too, and we want to make everyone feel comfortable.”
Meanwhile, a Maine judge on Friday ruled in favor of Hickox, saying that local health authorities failed to prove there was need for a stricter quarantine order.
District Court Chief Judge Charles LaVerdiere said that nurse Hickox, who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, has to submit to “direct active monitoring” as well as coordinate her travel with public health officials, reported CNN.
She also has to immediately notify health authorities if any symptoms of the deadly virus appear.
“I know that Ebola is a scary disease,” Hickox said. “I have seen it face-to-face. I know we are nowhere near winning this battle. We’ll only win this battle as we continue this discussion, as we gain a better collective understanding about Ebola and public health, as we overcome the fear and, most importantly, as we end the outbreak that is still ongoing in West Africa today.”
Her attorney said the judge’s decision is a victory.
“She won,” he added. “She is not quarantined. She can go out in the public. … (The judge) got the understanding of what liberty is about and how the government can’t restrict your liberty unless there is compelling justification.”
Gov. Paul LePage said he disagreed with the ruling but will abide by it.
“As governor, I have done everything I can to protect the health and safety of Mainers. The judge has eased restrictions with this ruling, and I believe it is unfortunate,” LePage said.
Later in the day, the governor lashed out at Hickox, saying: “She has violated every promise she has made so far, so I can’t trust her. I don’t trust her. And I don’t trust that we know enough about this disease to be so callous.”
Hickox was thrust into the center of a national debate after she returned to the U.S. last week from treating Ebola victims in West Africa as a volunteer for Doctors Without Borders.
Hickox’s quarantine in Maine — and, before that, in New Jersey, upon her arrival back in the U.S. — led humanitarian groups, the White House and many scientists to warn that automatically quarantining medical workers is unnecessary and could cripple the fight against Ebola by discouraging volunteers like Hickox from going to danger zone.
Hickox contended that confinement at her home in Fort Kent, a town of 4,300 people in far northern Maine along the Canadian border, violated her rights and was unsupported by science. She twice violated the quarantine by going outside her home — once to go on a bike ride and once to talk to the media and shake a reporter’s hand.
In a court filing, the director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention backed away from the state’s original request for an in-home quarantine and called for restrictions in line with federal guidelines — namely, staying away from crowded public places.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
