Finally some sanity in the back-and-forth case involving Kaci Hickox, the nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa and was being quarantined in her Maine home against her will.
A judge on Friday reversed his earlier position that forbade Hickox from leaving her hometown, using public transit or being within 3 feet of others.
Science prevailed. Doctors say the disease cannot be spread if a person is asymptomatic. And Hickox is not sick or showing signs of Ebola.
If someone were contagious, we could see the government’s interest in protecting public health outweighing civil liberties. But this was not one of those cases.
The campaign to isolate Hickox was born of fear and politics, not scientific reason, and the judge was right to reject it.
