New Jersey Nurse Quarantined in a Tent
Quarantined nurse blasts Gov. Christie as lawyer prepares to fight for her freedom
Kaci Hickox, 33, was the first person snared by the 21-day mandatory quarantine announced by Christie and Gov. Cuomo for anyone returning to New York or New Jersey after treating Ebola victims in West Africa. Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel has signed on to help Hickox sue for her freedom.
BY REUVEN BLAU , SASHA GOLDSTEIN , ERIN DURKIN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 1:14 PM Updated: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 6:40 PM A A A
Kaci Hickox, 33, blasted Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday after being quarantine Friday following her return from Sierra Leone.
The nurse put under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey blasted Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday for the decision to isolate her and plans to take legal action to gain her freedom.
The quarantine tent in Newark, New Jersey, which has housed Kaci Hickox since she returned from Sierra Leone on October 24, 2014. Hickox had been treating Ebola victims.
"First of all, I don't think he (Christie) is a doctor, and second of all, he's never laid eyes on me," Kaci Hickox, 33, told CNN's Candy Crowley by phone from her quarantine tent outside University Hospital in Newark.
She said Christie was just wrong when he described her as "obviously ill" when she has no fever or other symptoms of the virus.
Hickox, who returned from working with Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, has retained civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to sue for her freedom in New Jersey federal court later this week.
"The mandatory quarantine policy enacted by Govs. Christie and Cuomo creates serious and substantial civil liberties issues," Siegel, the former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Daily News. "The policy infringes on Kaci Hickox's constitutional liberty."
Siegel said he had spoken to Hickox several times by phone and was cleared to meet with her later Sunday. He was gathering affidavits from legal experts to support their case.
To hold someone against his or her will, the government would have to prove a compelling public health reason, he said.
"Her temperature's 98.6. They took her blood and it's negative for Ebola. So I don't think they meet the requirements to confine her. And she wants out," he said. "You can't have a policy based on fear. It's got to be based on medical fact."
Hickox's boyfriend, Theodore Wilbur, 39, called his companion's confinement "fear mongering."
"They are doing it during the election season to drum up support for hardline members of the political establishment," he told The News from Maine, where the couple lives.
Hickox was singled out for extra screening after deplaning Friday at Newark Liberty Airport.
Following hours of tests and questioning, Hickox says she was ordered into isolation in an unheated tent outside University Hospital in Newark. She was the first person treated under the new rules in place in Jersey, New York and Illinois to quarantine anyone, including health workers, who have had contact with Ebola victims in Africa for 21 days.
The bathroom inside the tent outside University Hospital in Newark, where Kaci Hickox is being quarantined.
The extreme measures were described as "draconian" by the National Institute of Health's infectious disease director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who appeared Sunday on NBC'S "Meet the Press."
"We need to treat them, returning (health workers), with respect, and make sure that - they're really heroes," he said.
Hickox said chaos reigned as health-care workers scrambled to set up her accommodations and monitoring. The tent has a portable toilet, no shower and little else. She's stuck only with her iPhone and a small window.
No one has communicated to her the quarantine protocol, or what will become of her for the next several days, Hickox said.
"To put me in prison is just inhumane," she told CNN.
She spoke to family on Sunday morning.
"I don't really know what's happening to my child," her mother, Karen Hickox, told the Daily News from Texas. "I love her with all my heart and I want her to be safe."
sgoldstein@nydailynews.co
Kaci Hickox, 33, was the first person snared by the 21-day mandatory quarantine announced by Christie and Gov. Cuomo for anyone returning to New York or New Jersey after treating Ebola victims in West Africa. Civil rights attorney Norman Siegel has signed on to help Hickox sue for her freedom.
BY REUVEN BLAU , SASHA GOLDSTEIN , ERIN DURKIN NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Published: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 1:14 PM Updated: Sunday, October 26, 2014, 6:40 PM A A A
Kaci Hickox, 33, blasted Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday after being quarantine Friday following her return from Sierra Leone.
The nurse put under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey blasted Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday for the decision to isolate her and plans to take legal action to gain her freedom.
The quarantine tent in Newark, New Jersey, which has housed Kaci Hickox since she returned from Sierra Leone on October 24, 2014. Hickox had been treating Ebola victims.
"First of all, I don't think he (Christie) is a doctor, and second of all, he's never laid eyes on me," Kaci Hickox, 33, told CNN's Candy Crowley by phone from her quarantine tent outside University Hospital in Newark.
She said Christie was just wrong when he described her as "obviously ill" when she has no fever or other symptoms of the virus.
Hickox, who returned from working with Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, has retained civil rights attorney Norman Siegel to sue for her freedom in New Jersey federal court later this week.
"The mandatory quarantine policy enacted by Govs. Christie and Cuomo creates serious and substantial civil liberties issues," Siegel, the former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the Daily News. "The policy infringes on Kaci Hickox's constitutional liberty."
Siegel said he had spoken to Hickox several times by phone and was cleared to meet with her later Sunday. He was gathering affidavits from legal experts to support their case.
To hold someone against his or her will, the government would have to prove a compelling public health reason, he said.
"Her temperature's 98.6. They took her blood and it's negative for Ebola. So I don't think they meet the requirements to confine her. And she wants out," he said. "You can't have a policy based on fear. It's got to be based on medical fact."
Hickox's boyfriend, Theodore Wilbur, 39, called his companion's confinement "fear mongering."
"They are doing it during the election season to drum up support for hardline members of the political establishment," he told The News from Maine, where the couple lives.
Hickox was singled out for extra screening after deplaning Friday at Newark Liberty Airport.
Following hours of tests and questioning, Hickox says she was ordered into isolation in an unheated tent outside University Hospital in Newark. She was the first person treated under the new rules in place in Jersey, New York and Illinois to quarantine anyone, including health workers, who have had contact with Ebola victims in Africa for 21 days.
The bathroom inside the tent outside University Hospital in Newark, where Kaci Hickox is being quarantined.
The extreme measures were described as "draconian" by the National Institute of Health's infectious disease director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who appeared Sunday on NBC'S "Meet the Press."
"We need to treat them, returning (health workers), with respect, and make sure that - they're really heroes," he said.
Hickox said chaos reigned as health-care workers scrambled to set up her accommodations and monitoring. The tent has a portable toilet, no shower and little else. She's stuck only with her iPhone and a small window.
No one has communicated to her the quarantine protocol, or what will become of her for the next several days, Hickox said.
"To put me in prison is just inhumane," she told CNN.
She spoke to family on Sunday morning.
"I don't really know what's happening to my child," her mother, Karen Hickox, told the Daily News from Texas. "I love her with all my heart and I want her to be safe."
sgoldstein@nydailynews.co
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Finally treated as they should be. 0 -
I can't bring my dogs back into the country without a lengthy quarantine. What is it that these libtards do not understand about the rest of us not wanting to die. 0 -
They are willing to risk exposure to a deadly virus in a third world country and are considered heroes for this sacrifice but then balk at a 3 week quarantine to safeguard the lives of an entire nation. That makes no sense to me. 0 -
Looks pretty good to me. I have slept in much worse places. It is much roomier that the cab of the 18 wheeler I am sleeping in tonight.
You got a treadmill machine, you got your computer. You can listen to any music you want.
Order a pizza and a six pack, have them set your treats down outside the tent door, give the pizza boy a minute to get well away, and you go outside and grab your supper.
Pop a Budweiser and eat a slice of pizza and watch "El Dorado" with John Wayne, you got it made.
God Bless these health care workers. They want to go the Hell Hole of Africa and help the suffering people.
But, we have to look after our own here in America.
We had a well-meaning doctor, who was infested with Ebola, ride subway trains and go bowling. He exposed hundreds of Americans to Ebola.
If a doctor can behave so selfishly, and stupidly, so can a nurse! A doc is supposed to be twice as smart as a nurse is.
You want to go to Africa and help the suffering people, you come back to America and you spend 21 days in your de-luxe quarantine tent. What is the problem?
This New Jersey quarantine tent makes me want to vote for Christie for President. I especially love how Christie, and, surprisingly, lib NY Governor Cuomo are sticking it to Obama by mandating quarantine.0 -
wonder what her digs looked like in Africa? 0 -
She should not even been allowed back to America shores should've been quarantined on some island off shore like they useto do at Elise Island 0 -
Thank you, woodhog. In Africa she was sleeping in a straw hut, with some rocks laid out in a circle in the middle with a camp fire burning. Every hour or so an Ebola infested boy brings in another armload of sticks of firewood. She was eating corn meal mush from a clay pot.
And now, back in America, she must be returned to her upper East Side town home, or she will sue in Federal Court! Give me a break!0 -
suck it lady 0 -
I heard the nurse is planning on filing a civil suit due to her forced quarantine. Since the justice system is filled with partisan socialists activists, she will probably win.
The fact that liberal democrats want to expose the rest of us to Ebola is highly illustrative of how dangerous these people are.0 -
Barzillia, do you think the doc who rode the subways for 2 days, and exposed hundreds of Americans to Ebola, should have been quarantined? 0 -
"He should have entered quarantine."
Yes, and by what means? Since he didn't have the brains to quarantine himself, obviously the government should have ordered quarantine before he exposed so many to Ebola.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Barzillia
quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
I can't bring my dogs back into the country without a lengthy quarantine. What is it that these libtards do not understand about the rest of us not wanting to die.
Doing foolish things will only hasten the process.
Using your rationale, we should be quarantining you as well since you are exposed to your dogs.
How is imposing a quarantine longer than the incubation period foolish?
It does not matter where outside the country you go with pets they are quarantined for an extended period of time on your return. Anyone returning from a hot zone should be quarantined for 90 days at a secure location. Gitmo is a good spot and if the terrorists there get it, oh well....
They chose to risk their lives by going there. I did not.0 -
two examples of so called educated professional people wrapped up in their own exalted ego...shameful lack of consideration for anyone else.... 0 -
It is yet unclear why some seem to think that doing nothing rational, is the most rational thing. Seems to be some sort of arrogant bravado as much as anything.
Both from the perspective of closely monitoring those who have been exposed for their own health benefit, but also for the safety of everyone else, a quarantine makes perfect sense.
The NBC news crew was to be voluntarily quarantined, they wandered around, and if medical personnel cannot show better sense than to wander around after returning from Africa where they were treating infected patients, then someone else can show better sense.0 -
quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
I can't bring my dogs back into the country without a lengthy quarantine. What is it that these libtards do not understand about the rest of us not wanting to die.
yep0 -
NJ Gov Christie did the right thing. Protect the people of NJ from this disease...
That tent looks very nice by the way.0 -
Did she have cable? 0 -
"Freedom" carries a price and a responsibility. Kudos to anyone who would place themselves willingly in the midst of Ebola but by doing so one must understand the consequences and the responsibility.
If memory serves we (US) had immigration facilities in place during the late 1800's well into the 20th Century. Quarantine was an accepted component in the protection of our general population. It was neither considered cruel or unusual.
Funny isn't it that a facility in the NY harbor is a national monument rather than a working facility. I wonder if any of the brain trusts in government remember Ellis Island?0 -
Too dang bad, sorry but considering the way the people who have this disease have nonchalantly interacted with the public I see no problem locking you up if you have treated a person with this disease and demonstrate any symptoms or if you have traveled from an area where this disease is currently spreading. 0 -
A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 0 -
She has better living quarters than I did when I was elk hunting. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mr. Perfect
She has better living quarters than I did when I was elk hunting.
Got any pics?0 -
Barz, dude, you might have that magical spark that makes you "think" you know exactly what needs to happen when someone needs medical attention in a hurry, but as a former EMT-A and Physicians' Assistant in the ER, I must take umbrage over your insistence that there is absolutely no threat vector from returning medical personnel who decide on their own to go all touristy, potentially spreading an extremely easy-to-catch disease (virus, actually) that could spread exponentially in this country.
It's not a Constitutional rights thing, it's not an appeasement strategy, it's not against current law to remove someone returning from a pandemic zone, where they have had DIRECT CONTACT with infected individuals, to some place secure (where they cannot infect others) until the suspected incubation time has passed.
As far as that whiny puke stuck in that "inhumane prison" in NJ; she's the product of so many years of indoctrination by ProgLibs that she actually thinks it's wrong to separate her from the (healthy) general population until such time as the incubation period of the suspected disease has passed, because she has the "right" to wander about, unfettered by her own medical sensibilities or Hippocratic Oath (First, do no harm...), and wants to get a monetary windfall for endangering the freaking planet (slight exaggeration, here)!0 -
Just wait until they quarantine us gun owners for being a threat to public health.
This is a very slippery slope. 1st off, the friggin' Governor should not have the power to strip away rights on ANY individual.
But, if a quarantine is deemed necessary, where does it end? A person, a town, a city??? Enforced by the military??
Ebola scares me for 2 reasons. One being the health implications, the second being the seeming test of the Governments' ability to divide and control.0 -
They may not admit it publicly but I bet her neighbors are happy she's in quarantine [:)], I would be [;)] 0 -
She has a moral obligation as a health care worker to stay in the quarantine. She is suing is asinine. The judge ought to throw the case out and yank her nursing licenses in my opinion.[}:)][}:)][}:)]. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by RobOz
quote:Originally posted by Mr. Perfect
She has better living quarters than I did when I was elk hunting.
Got any pics?
Stuck on my phone.0 -
quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
quote:Originally posted by Barzillia
quote:Originally posted by CaptFun
I can't bring my dogs back into the country without a lengthy quarantine. What is it that these libtards do not understand about the rest of us not wanting to die.
Doing foolish things will only hasten the process.
Using your rationale, we should be quarantining you as well since you are exposed to your dogs.
How is imposing a quarantine longer than the incubation period foolish?
It does not matter where outside the country you go with pets they are quarantined for an extended period of time on your return. Anyone returning from a hot zone should be quarantined for 90 days at a secure location. Gitmo is a good spot and if the terrorists there get it, oh well....
They chose to risk their lives by going there. I did not.
Yep.0 -
Well I see Krispy cream Christie caved in [:(!] 0 -
I see a double standard here and most in the military was ordered to go there
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pentagon-isolates-soldiers-over-ebola-fears-nurse-freed-from-nj-quarantine/ar-BBbtzHs0
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