(Newswire.net — October 27, 2014) — Nurse Kaci Hickox was among the brave medical stuff working in Sierra Leone to help treat Ebola patients. She has twice tested negative for Ebola virus and has had no symptoms. As she arrived to U.S., she was quarantined for the mandatory 21 days at University Hospital in Newark. However, reportedly after pressure from health officials and the White House, she has been given clearance to go home by federal officials, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced early Monday.
“I’m sorry if in any way she was inconvenienced, but the inconvenience that could occur from having folks that are symptomatic and ill out amongst the public is a much, much greater concern of mine. I hope she recovers quickly,” said Gov. Christie at the press conference, implying that Hickox might be ill.
“First of all, I don’t think he’s a doctor; secondly, he’s never laid eyes on me; and thirdly, I’ve been asymptomatic since I’ve been here,” Hickox told CNN’s Candy Crowley on “State of the Union.”
“For the first 12 hours, I was in shock. Now I’m angry,” she added.
“She went and did a magnanimous thing and deserves to be treated with respect and dignity, not put in isolation because some political leaders decided it looks good to do that.” Hickox’s lawyer Steven Hyman said in a sidewalk news conference aired on CNN affiliate WABC. “
Hickox arrived in Newark Liberty Airport on Friday afternoon. After mandatory hospital check-in, she waited for seven-hours before she was put in an isolation tent inside University Hospital in Newark.
Hickox says she has asked repeatedly but hasn’t been told how long she’ll be held at the hospital.
The hospital said she has computer access, use of her cell phone, reading material (magazines, newspaper) and “requested and has received take-out food and drink.” However, Hickox said she was not allowed to have luggage or any personal belonging and permitted to wear only paper scrubs. She has no shower, no flushable toilet, no television or any reading material. Mostly, she says, she stares at the walls. She wasn’t allowed to see her layer even though the tent has a window, and doctors talk to her without any protection.
“So if there’s no risk to them talking to me from outside the window, it doesn’t make any sense that my lawyer wouldn’t be able to do the same,” she said.
Gov. Cuomo adjusted the mandatory-quarantine order Monday morning. He announced that health workers traveling from West Africa and who do not show symptoms of the virus would be allowed to remain at home for further medical evaluation. Further more, those workers, would be compensated for lost income,” he said.
Hickox said she worries that her experience will discourage other aid workers from going to West Africa to help quell the Ebola outbreak.