Kaci Hickox, the American nurse that was locked up in mandatory quarantine, criticized the knee-jerk reactions from politicians – i.e. the Governor who took the decision to lock her up.
article (CNN):
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/26/healt ... index.html
audio-video with Elizabeth Crowley, CNN’s senior medical correspondent (video starts with publicity of course):
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video ... e.cnn.html
From that CNN article :
Kaci Hickox, an epidemiologist who was working to help treat Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, said she has tested negative twice for Ebola and does not have symptoms. “This is an extreme that is really unacceptable, and I feel like my basic human rights have been violated. I’m physically strong but emotionally exhausted.”
She slammed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for describing her as obviously ill. "That's just a completely unacceptable statement that's categorically not true is just unacceptable and appalling. Mandatory quarantine is "not a sound public health decision" and public health officials -- not politicians -- should be making the policies related to Ebola and public safety”.
Hickox arrived in Newark Liberty Airport on Friday afternoon and after a seven-hour wait at the hospital. She was put in an isolation tent in University Hospital in Newark. She's twice tested negative for Ebola, including a test at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. "To put me in prison," she said, "is just inhumane."
At a news conference Saturday, governor Christie said "I'm sorry if in any way she was inconvenienced, but 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."
Hickox said she has nothing to recover from. Her temperature is normal, and she feels fine. "Everyone keeps asking how I'm feeling physically and of course I'm fine physically, but I don't think most people understand what it's like to be alone in a tent and decisions are being made that don't make sense and show no compassion," Hickox said, starting to cry. "I just feel like fear is winning right now, and when fear wins, everyone loses."
She's not allowed to have her luggage and was given paper scrubs to wear. She has no shower, no flushable toilet and the hospital gave her no television or any reading material. Mostly, she says, she stares at the walls. She's not allowed to see her lawyer or anyone else. "The tent has a window, and doctors talk to me in normal clothes from outside the window," she says. "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."
Hickox said she worries that her experience will discourage other aid workers from going to West Africa to help quell the Ebola outbreak. She added that she doesn't regret her trip to help Ebola patients in Africa. "Someone asked me earlier would I do this again if I knew what would happen, and my answer is categorically yes," she said. "I feel incredibly privileged to be able to do this work."
