Kaci Hickox, the Doctors Without Borders nurse who took on Chris Christie and won (although he’ll never admit it) after returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, is now home in Maine, where she’s at it all over again. While the state expects Hickox to stay home until her 21-day incubation period is over on November 10, she is intent on fighting the power. “If the restrictions placed on me by the state of Maine are not lifted by Thursday morning, I will go to court to fight for my freedom,” she said this morning on the Today show.
When Matt Lauer asked why she found the guidelines so “abhorrent,” Hickox replied, “I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just, and so I am not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public.” She definitely has command of her talking points.
“I do understand that it has created a lot of fear, but we still have to make policies that are based on evidence,” she continued. “I remain appalled by these home quarantine policies that have been forced upon me, even though I am in perfectly good health and feeling strong and have been this entire time completely symptom-free.”
Hickox tested negative for Ebola earlier this week and was allowed to leave the showerless tent outside of the Newark hospital where she’d been contained since arriving last Friday. (She had “access to the internet and takeout food from the best restaurants in Newark,” Christie contended, in his way.)
Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, however, said he would push back, despite seeing how that went for Christie. “Upon learning the healthcare worker intends to defy the protocols, the Office of the Governor has been working collaboratively with the state health officials within the Department of Health and Human Services to seek legal authority to enforce the quarantine,” LePage said in a statement. “While we certainly respect the rights of one individual, we must be vigilant in protecting 1.3 million Mainers, as well as anyone who visits our great state.”
But as Hickox’s boyfriend put it in reference to New Jersey’s governor over the weekend, “Now he’s messed with the wrong redhead.”
