Nurse challenges Maine governor’s Ebola order

[Updated below] A nurse who was unceremoniously and unscientifically held in an isolation tent at Newark Airport over the weekend before being allowed to leave for her home in Maine is now challenging a second state’s authority to forcibly quarantine her.

Kaci Hickox was held against her will in a hastily constructed tent with no electricity or running water after returning from working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone under the direction of Doctors without Borders. The quarantine was billed as a test case by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who (along with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo) asserted the right to isolate any medical professional returning to the U.S. from African nations affected by the Ebola epidemic.

When Hickox threatened New Jersey with legal action, Christie backtracked and arranged to have the nurse driven to her home in Fort Kent, Maine.

Now, Maine Governor Paul LePage has moved to force Hickox to remain in her home under what he says are his state’s quarantine requirements.

“We are very concerned about her safety and health and that of the community, said LePage. “We are exploring all of our options for protecting the health and wellbeing of the healthcare worker, anyone who comes in contact with her, the Fort Kent community and all of Maine.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has issued guideline for people returning from infected areas. They include self-monitoring, measuring body temperature multiple times a day, and contacting authorities in the case of a fever or if other symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea occur. Medical professionals stress that people infected with the Ebola virus are not contagious if they are not symptomatic.

Hickox, in an interview with NBC News, said that she doesn’t plan on honoring the governor’s wishes to isolate herself. “I am not going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public," she said. Hickox reported that a state trooper was now parked outside her home, which has been confirmed in tweets from local news media.

Hickox has again threatened legal action if the state tries to enforce any quarantine.

"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. Hickox’s attorney told CNN that his client had not seen any mandatory order from the state and that "the next step is up to Maine."

“The only reason that there is a cry for quarantine is because the political side has decided that it would just be better if she stayed home,” said the attorney.

And the politics cannot be ignored. Six days out from the general election, LePage is in a tight race to retain the governorship.

An Atlantic SMS poll released Tuesday showed LePage tied with his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, at roughly 40 percent each.

About 13 percent of voters support independent candidate Eliot Cutler, and 7 percent are still undecided.

LePage narrowly won the governorship four years ago after Cutler and Democrat Libby Mitchell split the opposition vote. This time around, Cutler’s campaign has not gained the same amount of traction.

With his campaign short on funds and curtailing ad buys and campaigning, Cutler hastily convened a press conference this morning to address calls (mostly from Michaud supporters) that he step aside. Speaking at his campaign headquarters in Portland, Cutler said he was not quitting the race and did not want to “release” his voters, but if his supporters did not think he could win, they should “vote their conscience.”

A recent survey by Public Policy Polling, which also showed LePage and Michaud tied in a three-way race, found that Michaud had the edge when head-to-head with the incumbent. Cutler voters who had to choose a different candidate broke 55 percent for Michaud, 35 percent for LePage, according the PPP poll.

Ebola was already a hot topic in the third debate between the three candidates, which occurred before Hickox arrived in Fort Kent. Michaud made statements supporting President Obama and his newly appointed Ebola “czar,” Ron Klain, and tried to draw connections between the death of Thomas Eric Duncan in Dallas with the Ebola victim’s lack of insurance (a claim that has been met with some skepticism in both Texas and Maine). Cutler said that he didn’t think Maine was ready to deal with an Ebola outbreak, while LePage said that in the case of an earlier patient suspected of possibly being infected, it was important to know if that person were a legal resident.

The debate highlighted a general trend in Ebola politicking this season, with candidates using the West African health crisis as a pivot point for other hot-button issues, such as immigration, the Affordable Care Act, and the leadership of the Obama administration.

President Obama, by the way, is due to campaign in Maine on behalf of Michaud on Thursday — the same day Kaci Hickox has promised legal action against the state’s quarantine restrictions.