Maine judge rejects quarantine orders for nurse who treated Ebola patients

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who returned from treating Ebola patients in West Africa a week ago, and who has been publicly defying calls for her to isolate herself, is now free to come and go as she pleases.

NBC News reports that Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere of state court lifted parts of the ruling he made Thursday night for Hickox to be "monitored for symptoms and [to] let health officials know where she's going."

Judge LaVerdiere reportedly "found that authorities in Maine had not proved that further restricting Hickox's movement was necessary to protect the public from infection."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Hickox, who tested negative for the disease last weekend, is not infectious because she has no symptoms — Ebola patients aren't contagious until they show symptoms, and their contagion level grows with their severity — but he ordered her to submit to "direct active monitoring," a daily check of her temperature and symptoms.