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 Attorneys for Kaci Hickox, 33, said they had not yet been served
with a court order to enforce the 21-day quarantine - matching the
virus's maximum incubation period - but remained prepared to fight
such an order if necessary.
LePage's office said negotiations with Hickox, who worked with
Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, "have failed despite
repeated efforts by state officials" and that he would "exercise the
full extent of his authority allowable by law."
The quarantine showdown between Hickox and Maine has become the
focal point of a struggle between several U.S. states opting for
stringent measures to guard against Ebola and a federal government
wary of discouraging potential medical volunteers.
Mandatory quarantines ordered by some U.S. states on doctors and
nurses returning from West Africa's Ebola outbreak are creating a
"chilling effect" on Doctors Without Borders operations there, the
humanitarian group said on Thursday.
A California-based nurses union said it was organizing strikes and
other protests against what it views as insufficient protection for
nurses caring for patients stricken with the deadly virus.
Hickox left her home in the small Maine town of Fort Kent, along the
Canadian border, and television news images showed her taking a
morning bicycle ride with her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur. Hickox has
given the New England state a deadline of Thursday to lift an order
that she remain at home until Nov. 10, or she will go to court.
“It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride,” said Hickox, wearing a
helmet and other bike gear as she headed out for her 3-mile (5-km)
ride while police stationed outside her house stood by without
trying to stop her, according to local media.
LePage's office said he was open to an arrangement in which she
could go for walks, runs or bike rides but not go into public places
or come within 3 feet (1 meter) of other people.
“I was ready and willing - and remain ready and willing - to
reasonably address the needs of healthcare workers meeting
guidelines to assure the public health is protected,” said LePage, a
Republican locked in a tough three-way re-election battle.
President Barack Obama, who has criticized mandatory quarantine
policies imposed by some states for returning medical workers like
Hickox, flew to Maine on Thursday to campaign in the town of Cape
Elizabeth for Democratic candidates, including Mike Michaud, who is
trying to unseat LePage in Tuesday's midterm elections. He did not
address the Ebola issue in public remarks at a voter rally.
One of Hickox's attorneys, Norman Siegel, defended his client's
decision to go for a bike ride but noted that she avoided the center
of town so as not to “freak people out.”
“Since there’s no court order, she can be out in public,” Siegel
said. “Even if people disagree with her position, I would hope they
respect the fact that she’s taking into account the fear, which is
based on misinformation about the way the disease is transmitted.”
Medical professionals say Ebola is difficult to catch and is spread
through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person
and is not transmitted by asymptomatic people. Ebola is not
airborne.
U.S. concern about the disease is high even though there is only one
person in the country currently being treated for it, a New York
doctor, Craig Spencer, who cared for patients in West Africa.
Spencer, 33, remains in serious but stable condition, New York's
Bellevue Hospital said on Thursday.
Hickox tested negative for Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone,
one of the three impoverished countries at the heart of the outbreak
that has killed about 5,000 people there.
She previously blasted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after she
was taken from Newark's airport and put in isolation in a tent
before being driven to Maine to spend the rest of her 21-day
quarantine at home.
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Such treatment of returning medics is affecting those still in West
Africa, said Sophie Delaunay, executive director of Doctors Without
Borders in the United States.
"There is rising anxiety and confusion among MSF staff members in
the field over what they may face when they return home upon
completion of their assignments in West Africa," said Delaunay in a
statement emailed to Reuters. Doctors Without Borders is also known
by its French name, Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF. New York's
tough guidelines are also affecting diplomats. U.S. Ambassador to
the United Nations Samantha Power returned to New York on Thursday
after a brief visit to West Africa and must report her temperature
twice daily to the New York state health department for the next 20
days.
Elsewhere, there were happier outcomes for people caught in the
crossfire in the battle against Ebola.
A 7-year-old girl banned from attending school in Connecticut over
fears that she may be carrying the virus after a trip to Nigeria
will be allowed back on Friday, according to a joint statement by
the school district and the girl's father, who had filed a lawsuit
to get the ban lifted.
Dallas nurse Nina Pham, who recovered from an Ebola infection, will
be reunited with 1-year-old King Charles Spaniel on Saturday after
testing indicated the pet was free of Ebola, a spokeswoman for the
city of Dallas said.
 With elections coming Tuesday, Republicans aiming to take full
control of the U.S. Congress have made criticism of Obama's response
to Ebola - which they call inept and too weak - a part of their
campaign message.
Some U.S. states have imposed automatic, 21-day quarantines on
doctors and nurses returning from treating Ebola patients in
Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Obama and other critics say such
steps may discourage American doctors and nurses who are desperately
needed there from volunteering.
Confusion over how to treat potential Ebola carriers in the United
States is mirrored across the Americas, according to a meeting of
health experts in Havana, Cuba, on Thursday.
“Everyone agrees they must be watched. How that is done is up to
each country," said Jorge Perez, director of Cuba’s Pedro Kouri
Tropical Medicine Institute. "Every country is sovereign and can
adopt the measures they want.”
New York City and state officials on Thursday announced a program to
encourage healthcare professionals to work in West Africa, an effort
to deflect criticism of the state's mandatory quarantine.
The program will provide financial incentives and employment
protections similar to the benefits and rights provided to military
reservists, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor
Bill de Blasio said jointly.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax, Scott Malone, Jeff Mason,
Brendan O'Brien, Ellen Wulfhorst, Susan Heavey, Roberta Rampton, Jon
Herskovitz, Daniel Trotta, Michelle Nichols and Sharon Bernstein;
Writing by Will Dunham and Bill Rigby; Editing by Jonathan Oatis,
Grant McCool and Lisa Shumaker)
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