Nurse quarantined over Ebola concerns sues Gov. Chris Christie

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is being sued by a nurse who was quarantined in the state in 2014 after working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.

Kaci Hickox, 34, said after she arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport, she was questioned for several hours about her exposure to patients with Ebola. Eventually, despite not having any symptoms, she said she was sent to stay in quarantine in a tent outside of a hospital in Newark. New Jersey enacted a mandatory quarantine for health workers who had been in contact with Ebola patients, and Hickox was the first person forced into quarantine, The Associated Press reports. During a news conference Thursday, Hickox said via Skype that she "felt like I was being manipulated. I was literally in the dark. It was so hard. I felt completely alone and completely vulnerable and I was scared."

Hickox, who tested negative for Ebola twice, said that when her temperature was taken orally, it was normal, but former state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd said during the first night of quarantine Hickox had developed a fever, and Christie said the next day she was "obviously ill." After two days, Hickox was able to return to her home in Maine, where she did not participate in a voluntary quarantine. In her lawsuit — which also names O'Dowd and other health department employees — she is asking for $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Hickox also said she wants the case to change quarantine policies that she believes are based on politics.

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