-The World Health Organization has now declared a
global health emergency.
The U.S. government and a handful of states are taking a
dramatic step to prevent the spread of coronavirus from China:
quarantine.
-Any U.S. citizen who has been to the epicenter will face a
mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The measures stem from the concern that people without
symptoms could transmit the virus.
But any quarantine is a balancing act
between public health and individual rights.
That was the case in 2014,
with another deadly virus.
-World health experts said today the Ebola outbreak in West Africa
is out of control.
-It is the worst Ebola outbreak in history.
To prevent Ebola from spreading into the U.S.,
public health officials were screening people at airports.
And the state of New Jersey invoked its power to
quarantine anyone who might have been exposed to the virus.
Nurse Kaci Hickox had been working with Ebola patients.
-Yesterday New Jersey isolated an American nurse
who returned from Sierra Leone.
-Kaci Hickox is now being kept in a tent outside
a New Jersey hospital.
But Hickox objected to the quarantine and contacted
attorney Norman Siegel.
-She had no symptoms.
Uh, and, for at least Ebola, if someone
doesn’t have the symptoms, they’re not infectious.
And, so, the question then became,
why are they keeping her?
New Jersey health officials were concerned that Hickox could still
go on to develop the illness
during Ebola’s 21-day incubation period
and become contagious.
-Uh, I was very clear on Wednesday that we would take in
New Jersey whatever steps were necessary
to ensure the public health.
Complicating matters, Hickox had at one point showed signs of a
possible fever, but she then tested negative for Ebola.
Confident she wasn’t contagious, Hickox took her case public.
-I have been asymptomatic since I’ve been here.
I feel physically completely strong, and
emotionally completely exhausted.
And I feel like my basic human rights have been violated.
-And the argument that is given is that you
balance the individual right of liberty versus
the public safety concern.
And the public safety concern wins out.
I don’t agree with that, especially in the Kaci Hickox situation.
-Nurse Kaci Hickox is heading home to Maine
today after testing negative for Ebola.
Three days after arriving in New Jersey, Kaci Hickox was released
on the condition that she would be driven out of the state and
would return home to Maine.
-Maybe the thinking was, O.K., she’s out of our hair.
Maine, you deal with her.
Uh, and then we had the same problem in Maine.
-Uh, you know I’m thankful to be out of the tent in Newark, but I’ve
found myself in yet another prison,
just in a different environment.
Hickox’s lawyers went to court to block Maine from forcing her
into quarantine.
In the meantime, the state told her to stay at the house
she shared with her partner.
-We have to make decisions on science.
And I am completely healthy.
You know, you could hug me, you could shake my hand.
There is no way that I would give you Ebola.
I don’t want to hurt anyone in the public, but I don’t think this is an
acceptable line to be drawing.
-We talked about, is there something you can do to show
that you’re really not a threat to anyone, but yet, not create a
panic situation?
-Bike ride making headlines around the country.
-So, they took their bikes out.
They went off into the wilderness.
The only people that followed them was the media.
-Kaci Hickox, testing Maine’s quarantine, taking a morning
bike ride with her boyfriend.
-Blatantly breaking an order from state officials in Maine.
-It’s pretty bold of you to go out on a bike ride while the
state police are here. Why?
-How does it feel to be out on the road?
-It feels amazing.
The next day, the court ruled in Hickox’s favor, and she agreed to
limited monitoring for the rest of the incubation period.
As that window came and went, she returned to normal life.
-We will only win this battle as we continue this discussion,
as we gain a better collective understanding about Ebola
and public health.
In 2015, Hickox sued Governor Chris Christie and
other New Jersey officials for violating her constitutional rights.
And while those claims were not upheld, it
did lead to a so-called “patient’s bill of rights” for people
who end up in quarantine.
-Kaci insisted on changing the policy.
And it’s very clear now that if that occurs and people have a
right to counsel, have a right to have visitors see them, providing
that medically, it’s safe.
Uh, a right to a hearing.
A right to, within 24 hours, get a written
order from the government saying why you’re quarantined.
But the changes Hickox pushed through are only specific to
people quarantined for Ebola and only in the state of New Jersey.
Siegel says developing a consistent set of policies specific
to each illness is more important than ever.
Especially today, as scientists are still learning how
the coronavirus is transmitted, and hundreds of Americans
remain under quarantine during the current health scare.
-It’s really the best thing that, that we could do for, uh, the people
here in the United States is make sure that we’re not contagious.
-Whether it’s Ebola or right now coronavirus, all of these
procedures and processes should be in place, so you don’t begin to
make it up as you go along.
Because when you make it up and you go along, it’s more likely
you’re going to make a mistake or you’re not going to be sensitive to
people’s rights.
Because, gonna happen again and again,
and we need to be prepared.