The White House on Wednesday sidestepped the fight over Ebola quarantine policy that’s brewing in Maine, where state officials want to legally quarantine a nurse who recently returned from West Africa and proclaimed she will not be confined to her home under protocols that put politics over science.
Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, is reviewing his legal options to make sure Kaci Hickox, 33, stays at her Fort Kent home instead of being out and about during Ebola’s 21-day incubation period.
Ms. Hickox lambasted Maine’s protocols for voluntary quarantine Wednesday as “not scientifically nor constitutionally just,” because she has not developed symptoms since returning to the U.S. through New Jersey over the weekend.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said he could not comment on any conversations that may have taken place between the administration and Maine officials.
Instead, he pointed to guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week “to ensure that state and local officials had the information they need to use their authority and judgment to protect the citizens in their state.”
The Obama administration has not criticized any states by name, but it does not want states to overly burden health workers returning from the vital fight in West Africa.
SEE ALSO: Kaci Hickox won’t follow Maine protocols for Ebola isolation
Ms. Hickox has already battled one governor over her treatment in the U.S.
Earlier this week, she lambasted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for keeping her in a Newark hospital tent after she registered a fever at the airport.
She said the reading was faulty and that the Republican governor assumed too much about her health in ordering the quarantine. She was allowed to go home to Maine on Monday after she remained symptom-free for 24 hours.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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