Nurse Kaci Hickox, who was quarantined in New Jersey after returning from a trip to treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, today reaches the end of the 21-day period during which individuals exposed to Ebola are at risk of developing the disease. Hickox has been living with her boyfriend in Fort Kent, Maine, since Oct. 28 and has not shown any symptoms of infection. A judge there rejected the state’s attempts to enforce a mandatory quarantine, and she has been abiding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations that individuals with potential exposure limit their time in public and monitor their health closely. From the Associated Press:
Monday will mark the 21st day since Hickox’s last exposure to an Ebola patient, a 10-year-old girl who suffered seizures before dying alone without family.
On Tuesday, Hickox will no longer require daily monitoring for Ebola symptoms, and even those who sought to isolate her agree that she will no longer be a threat.
Hickox’s boyfriend has dropped out of the University of Maine nursing program in which he was enrolled, and the couple say they will likely move out of state, though, more immediately, they say they plan to have dinner at a restaurant.
