Kaci Hickox, an epidemiologist and nurse who returned to the United States after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, has been placed under mandatory quarantine. The mandatory quarantine has earlier been imposed in New York and New Jersey after it has been confirmed that a volunteer doctor who returned home from Guinea has been tested positive for Ebola.
Hickox, in an interview with CNN, slammed the new rule imposed by New York and New Jersey top officials, describing it "extreme" and "unacceptable." She was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union" hosted by Candy Crowley.
Hickox, who claimed that she has been tested negative for the virus twice, was also quoted as saying in the CNN report that her "basic human rights have been violated." She said that she has been really "emotionally exhausted" but she claimed that she is "physically strong," as said in the report.
The nurse also assailed Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey for calling her "obviously ill," saying that the official is not even a doctor. She told CNN that the governor has not even seen her and that she has been "asymptomatic."
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also slammed what happened to Hickox, calling it "inappropriate," CNN said. He also said that Hickox was "treated with disrespect."
"We owe her better than that, and all the people who do this work, better than that," he added in the report.
Reuters said in a separate report that Hickox is eager to fight the imposed quarantine. Citing lawyer Norman Siegel, Reuters said that the nurse is planning to sue as the mandatory quarantine order has violated her constitutional rights.
In a separate report published by the New York Daily News, civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel said that he is set to file charges at the New Jersey federal court this week.
The Daily News report quoted Siegel saying that the mandatory quarantine "creates serious and substantial civil liberties issues... and infringes on Kaci Hickox's constitutional liberty."
The lawyer said that he has been coordinating with Hickox and with several other experts to build on their case, the Daily News report added. He claimed that Hickox's temperature is 98.6 and that the nurse has been tested negative for the virus so there is no need for her to be confined. He said that his client "wants out."
"You can't have a policy based on fear. It's got to be based on medical fact," he was quoted as saying in the report.
Hickox told CNN that at first, she was "in shock" but as time passes, she has turned "angry."
The Daily News revealed that the nurse was "singled out for extra screening after deplaning Friday at Newark Liberty Airport." She underwent series of tests and questioning and was put into isolation. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a director at the National Institute of Health called the new policy "draconian," as reported by the Daily News citing Fauci's interview with NBC's "Meet the Press."
Fauci was also quoted in the same report saying that health workers who come from Ebola-stricken countries should be respected as "they're really heroes."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 4,922 people have already died of the virus. A total of 10,141 cases have already been recorded. Most of the cases were recorded in West African countries Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.