FORT KENT, Maine — A Maine judge gave nurse Kaci Hickox the OK to go wherever she pleases, handing state officials a defeat Friday in their bid to restrict her movements as a precaution against Ebola.
In a case that has come to encapsulate the clash in the U.S. between personal freedom and fear of Ebola, Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere ruled that Hickox must continue daily monitoring of her health but said there is no need to isolate her or restrict her movements because she has no symptoms and is therefore not contagious.
The judge thanked Hickox for her service in Africa and acknowledged the gravity of restricting someone’s constitutional rights without solid science to back it up.
The judge also decried the “misconceptions, misinformation, bad science and bad information” circulating about the lethal disease in the U.S.
After the ruling, a state police cruiser that had been posted outside Hickox’s home left, and she and her boyfriend stepped outside to thank the judge. Hickox, 33, called it “a good day” and said her “thoughts, prayers and gratitude” remain with those who are still battling Ebola in West Africa.
Gov. Paul LePage said he disagreed with the ruling but will abide by it. Later in the day, he lashed out at Hickox: “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.
On Thursday, after Hickox refused to stay home and abide by what Maine called a voluntary quarantine, the state went to court to try to impose restrictions on her.
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