TRENTON — The Maine health commissioner tonight said she expects the nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa to isolate herself at home until the incubation period for the potentially deadly disease is over, or the state will "pursue appropriate authority to ensure" a quarantine.



Update: Nurse says she will violate isolation request

Kaci Hickox, who publicly criticized Gov. Chris Christie for her quarantine at University Hospital in Newark by the New Jersey Health Department, is now facing pressure in her home state to stay home and alone until 21 days elapse since her last contact with an Ebola patient. Hickox was discharged from the hospital Monday afternoon, Christie said, because she had not exhibited any symptoms of illness and she tested negative for the virus.

Christie'2 decision to quarantine has been criticized by some medical organizations that are asserting he is stoking fear and ignoring the science that says people are not contagious until they start exhibiting symptoms.

It wasn’t clear tonight whether Hickox would abide by what Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew described as a “voluntary quarantine.”

“Our true desire is for a voluntary separation from the public,” according to a copy of Mayhew’s remarks. “We do not want to have to legally enforce an in-home quarantine. We are confident that the selfless health workers, who were brave enough to care for Ebola patients in a foreign country, will be willing to take reasonable steps to protect the residents of their own country.”

Steven Hyman, one of Hickox's attorneys, said he has not spoken to his client tonight about Mayhew's remarks. He said he had been trying to negotiate a compromise and was surprised to learn about the Maine health commissioner's statements to the press.



“I am sure she is not pleased,” Hyman said. “We’ve been trying to work out if there was a way to respect Kaci’s right to walk and be a free citizen versus the needs for protocols in terms of checking on her health, which we respect.”

"Kaci was willing and continues to be willing to be monitored and checked," Hyman said, noting that "she is asymptomatic and has been since the beginning, and is not according to all medical protocols at risk of causing contagion to anyone. Therefore there is no basis in law to say 'well we are afraid, you should stay home.' "

“I guess the next move is theirs,” Hyman said of the Maine authorities.

The press conference in Bangor, Maine came on the same day that Christie, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is campaigning with Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who is seeking re-election.

Informed of Christie’s visit, Hyman said he was “trying to stay out of politics,” but marveled at the timing. “Isn’t that coincidental?”

Hyman also declined to say where Hickox was staying. The Associated Press reported today that she and her boyfriend, a nursing student at the University of Maine at Fort Kent who was not identified, were at an undisclosed location. Ray Phinney, associate dean of Student Life and Development, told the AP the student “has decided to take a break from campus.”

Hickox became the first person to be affected by a new state quarantine policy that imposes a home quarantine on any travelers from West Africa who came in contact with Ebola patients. Hickox registered a fever briefly at Newark Liberty International Airport when her temperature was taken with a non-contact thermometer. That triggered her transfer to the hospital. Once there, however, an oral thermometer recorded no fever, according to an op-ed she texted to the Dallas Morning News over the weekend. By Saturday morning, a preliminary Ebola test had come back negative. She was held at the hospital for two more days.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

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