Quarantined Nurse Leaves Newark Hospital After Complaining About Ebola Confinement

Photo: Courtesy Of University of Texas at Arlington

The nurse placed under mandatory quarantine after helping to treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and who criticized New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reaction to Ebola, has been released from Newark’s University Hospital.

Kaci Hickox, an epidemiologist, was placed under mandatory quarantine even though she tested negative twice for Ebola and is asymptomatic.

But she was discharged on Monday morning after being “symptom free for the last 24 hours,” according to the governor’s office and the state Department of Health.

The New Jersey Department of Health released a statement saying:

“Since the patient had direct exposure to individuals suffering from the Ebola Virus in one of the three West African nations, she is subject to a mandatory New Jersey quarantine order. After consulting with her, she has requested transport to Maine, and that transport will be arranged via a private carrier not via mass transit or commercial aircraft.”

Cuomo and Christie required the mandatory quarantine this past week of health care workers returning from West Africa where they’ve had contact with Ebola patients.

“She will remain subject to New Jersey’s mandatory quarantine order while in New Jersey. Health officials in Maine have been notified of her arrangements and will make a determination under their own laws on her treatment when she arrives,” read the statement.

Hickhox was “initially found to have no symptoms, but later developed a fever. Because she had symptoms, she was subsequently transferred to University Hospital where she was placed in isolation under a quarantine order for review and testing.

“She was cared for in a monitored area of the hospital with an advanced tenting system that was recently toured and evaluated by the CDC. While in isolation, every effort was made to insure that she remained comfortable with access to a computer, cell phone, reading material and nourishment of choice.”

But Hickhox claimed otherwise and had said, “This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated,” to CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Gov. Christie, released a statement late Sunday saying that New Jersey is not changing its quarantine protocol.

“The protocol is clear that a New Jersey resident with no symptoms, but who has come into contact with someone with Ebola, such as a health care provider, would be subject to a mandatory quarantine order and quarantined at home,” he said. “Non-residents would be transported to their homes if feasible and, if not, quarantined in New Jersey.”

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