Ebola nurse plans to leave Maine

The Maine nurse at the center of the Ebola quarantine debate plans to move away from the state next week, according to a report by the Portland Press Herald.

Kaci Hickox, a volunteer with Doctors Without Borders, announced plans to leave about a week after winning a legal battle against Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), who had ordered her to be quarantined for three weeks.

“We’re going to try to get our lives back on track,” her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, told reporters Friday night.

Wilbur withdrew from a local nursing program this week after he was harassed and threatened on campus for his association with Hickox, he said.

He criticized university officials for asking him to keep away from campus, spurring “fear and hysteria” over the disease.

Hickox defied quarantines in both Maine and New Jersey, sparking a national debate about whether health workers should be forced to isolate themselves after potential exposure to Ebola.

A judge ruled in her favor earlier this month, which lifted harsh restrictions such as a three-foot “no touch” rule as long as she agreed to actively monitor herself for symptoms for the three-week incubation period. That window ends next week. 

Hickox was initially quarantined after reporting a slight fever at a Newark airport, though she later tested negative for the disease.