Order enforcing Ebola isolation of Maine nurse issued

The confrontation between the US state of Maine and a nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone heated up today when a judge issued a temporary order enforcing a quarantine after she defied state officials and took a bike ride.

The order from Charles LaVerdiere, chief judge of the Maine District Court, instructs nurse Kaci Hickox to submit to "direct active monitoring," and "not to be present in public places" like shopping centres, movie theatres or workplaces except to receive necessary healthcare.

The temporary order permits her to engage in what the judge called “non-congregate public activities” like walking or jogging in the park but instructs her to maintain a 1 metre distance from other people.

Ms Hickox went for a cycle yesterday morning, accompanied by her boyfriend, near her home in the northeastern state of Maine followed by two police cars. This was despite a voluntary quarantine from the state for her to remain inside her home until the 21-day incubation period in which Ebola can remain without symptoms has lapsed.

The quarantine confrontation between Ms Hickox and Maine has become the focal point of a struggle between several US states opting for stringent measures to guard against Ebola and a federal government wary of discouraging potential medical volunteers to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Reuters