Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Another Week of Ebola Monitoring in Maine

(CN) - The Maine nurse being monitored for symptoms of deadly Ebola has agreed to comply with a court order for the next week, a judge said today.

Kaci Hickox, who left West Africa on Oct. 20 after spending several weeks there treating Ebola patients, has made headlines for her resistance to quarantine during the 21-day incubation period for Ebola

New Jersey had detained Hickox for several days upon her arrival from Sierra Leone, at which time she presented with fluctuating temperatures, but the nurse has shown no signs of infection since her arrival in Maine.

Hickox is "not infectious," the Fort Kent District Court found Friday in lifting restrictions briefly placed on the nurse.

Chief Judge Charles LaVerdlere said Hickox need only submit to direct and active monitoring but can enter public places, such as malls, without restriction.

"The state has not met its burden at this time to prove by clear and convincing evidence that limiting [Hickox's] movements to the degree requested is 'necessary to protect other individuals from the dangers of infection,' however," that order states.

On Monday morning, the judge said that the Oct. 31 order will remain in effect through Nov. 10, when Hickox's incubation period ends.

"No testimonial hearing will occur and no further findings will be made, absent emergency circumstances," he wrote.

The Oct. 31 order says it will be necessary to isolate Hickox if circumstances change, but that direct active monitoring will bring this to light soon enough.

In addition to monitoring, the new order says Hickox must coordinate her travel with public health authorities and give immediate notice to those authorities "if any symptom appears." (Emphasis in original.)

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...