New Jersey Nurse Forced into Quarantine for Ebola Monitoring Released

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Oct 27, 2014

New Jersey Nurse Forced into Quarantine for Ebola Monitoring Released

A nurse who had been treating Ebola patients in West Africa and forced into quarantine for monitoring after returning to the United States, has now been released. Kaci Hickox had not shown any signs of the virus and was prepared to sue for being held against her will in New Jersey. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made a statement Sunday (Oct. 26) that health workers returning from serving in West Africa should be held in a mandatory quarantine which could be served at home. Hickox, however, was being held in Newark University Hospital. 

Hickox’s attorneys Norman Siegel and Steven Hyman were able to speak to the nurse on Sunday (Oct. 26). 

“She is fine. She is not sick,” Hyman said. 

After being declared symptom-free, Hickox will now fly to Maine through a “private carrier,” not a passenger jet. 

Hickox wrote that the several days she spent in isolation were inhumane, as she was left hours without food and was surrounded by chaos. 

"This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me...The U.S. must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity," she wrote. 

Publication date: October 27, 2014



New Jersey Nurse Forced into Quarantine for Ebola Monitoring Released