Kaci Hickox to be released from N.J. quarantine, then sent by private ambulance to Maine home

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Monday his state will release the nurse who had been quarantined in a tent next to a Newark hospital upon returning from Ebola-stricken West Africa.

A private carrier will take Kaci Hickox back to her home in Maine, the Republican governors administration said.

Ms. Hickox, 33, openly criticized her treatment at Newark Liberty International Airport and the conditions of her 21-day quarantine under a new order from Mr. Christie that governs people who enter New Jersey from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and show symptoms. Those who do not show symptoms or who do live in the Garden State may quarantine at home.

Our preference always is to have people quarantined in their homes, Mr. Christie said Monday. Now in this instance, it wasnt possible because given her condition at the time and the fact that [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and New Jersey agreed she needed to be tested, then we needed to keep her in New Jersey.

Ms. Hickox registered a fever at the airport, but she has alleged that may have been a false reading because her face was flushed and she had a normal temperature later on.

She hired an attorney, Norman Siegel, who called the quarantine overly broad and threatened to sue, particularly since Ms. Hickox had not tested positive for Ebola after her return from Sierra Leone, where she treated patients in coordination with Doctors Without Borders.

Since testing negative for Ebola early Saturday morning, the patient being monitored in isolation has thankfully been symptom free for the last 24 hours, the New Jersey Department of Health said Monday. After being evaluated by CDC and her clinicians, the patient is being discharged.

The agency said Ms. Hickox is technically still subject to a mandatory New Jersey quarantine order, but can return home.

Health officials in Maine have been notified of her arrangements and will make a determination under their own laws on her treatment when she arrives, the department said.

While Maine does not have quarantine rules in place, Gov. Paul LePages office said Saturday that it is monitoring anyone who returns from West Africa for 21 days the incubation period for Ebola. It said they are monitoring one traveler, although the person has no symptoms and did not come in contact with an Ebola patient.

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Kaci Hickox to be released from N.J. quarantine, then sent by private ambulance to Maine home