MOSCOW, November 3 (RIA Novosti) — US nurse Kaci Hickox who ran away from quarantine under which she was placed upon returning from Ebola-stuck Sierra Leone, has reached a settlement with the authorities of the state of Maine, agreeing to be tested for Ebola up until the end of the incubation period, Portland Press Herald reported Monday.
"I don't want to characterize it as win-lose. I think the state was searching for a resolution that would protect the public, and we were searching for a resolution that would protect Kaci's civil rights," Eric Saunders, one of the Hickox's lawyers, was quoted as saying by the Portland Press Herald.
According to the local media, Hickox agreed to follow the restrictions put in place by a district court judge on Friday, including the daily medical check-ups.
On October 24, 32-year-old epidemiologist Kaci Hickox arrived in New Jersey from Sierra Leone where she treated the patients infected with Ebola. After waiting for seven hours in the hospital, the woman was placed in a tent in the hospital yard. She was expected to stay in quarantine for three weeks but announced her intention to lodge a legal complaint against the local authorities, as there were no shower, toilet or TV in her tent.
The woman was allowed to go home and asked to stay there, but on October 30 Hickox and her boyfriend decided that there was no need to stay indoors, as the nurse showed no symptoms of Ebola. They rode away on bicycles followed by the local police that couldn't arrest them without an order but continued to monitor their public interactions.
Hickox argued that her basic human rights were taken away from her during quarantine and that throughout the ordeal she did not feel sick. Her struggle with the authorities spurred an US-wide debate on whether the isolation of the healthcare workers coming back from Africa is legitimate.
According to the latest report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released on October 31, the total number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola Virus disease currently stands at 13,567. A total of 4,951 people have died from Ebola.
