Quarantined nurse Kaci Hickox cleared to leave New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J., Oct. 27 (UPI) —

Kaci Hickox, the American healthcare worker quarantined in New Jersey since Friday, will be allowed to return to her home in Maine, after Gov. Chris Christie caved to mounting criticism of both his state’s mandatory 21-day quarantine regulations and his personal handling of Hickox’s displeasure with her treatment.

Hickox was working as a nurse for Doctors Without Borders, before returning stateside on Friday via Newark Liberty International Airport. Since her quarantine began, both New York and New Jersey have significantly softened their Ebola prevention measures in the face of widespread objections from the medical community and civil rights groups.

"Eight police cars escorted me to the University Hospital in Newark," Hickox described in an op-ed published by the Dallas Morning News.

"Sirens blared, lights flashed … I wondered what I had done wrong. I sat alone in the isolation tent and thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?"

On Sunday, the 33-year-old retained the legal services of Norman Siegel, former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, who immediately announced his intentions to sue the state.

"She doesn’t have any symptoms so the question becomes why should she be quarantined against her will," Siegel told the Wall Street Journal.

"We’ll try within the next week to file something on her behalf. We could be setting a precedent here."

Christie, however, did not wait for Siegel to set precedent, and quickly changed the state’s quarantine regulations, thus allowing Hickox to return home where she will continue to be monitored for 21 days. All travelers from West Africa may now stay in their homes for the duration of their 21-day quarantine, rather than a government-run facility.

"Now, retrospectively, their critics will say they’ve overreacted," civil rights expert Brigid Harrison noted.

"But the reality is that [Governors Christie and Cuomo] were reacting with limited information, and had she been positive, he would be congratulated right now."