Out and about with Ebola

Suppose you or someone you knew came into contact with the most feared disease on the globe. Would you stay indoors?

If we insisted, would that violate your Civil Rights?

And if community officials got involved, would you be willing to forgo a bike ride or a trip to the local pizza takeout without screaming bloody murder?

By now, everyone knows the story of Kaci Hickox, the nurse who defied state health officials’ efforts to restrict her movement after she treated Ebola patients. Hickox treated patients in Sierra Leone before returning home to Maine. When asked to obey a voluntary quarantine period to make certain she didn’t show symptoms from the disease, Hickox balked.

She told a Maine court Friday that she’s been symptom-free. In response, Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere conceded Hickox was not infectious, but ordered she honor a 21-day incubation period for Ebola, which ends Monday.

The first time Hickox was told to sit still, she held a press conference and then hit the road on her bicycle.

This time, the court is allowing her to travel, but she’s been ordered to stay within three feet of those she encounters along her way. Also, Hickox is not allowed to go into public places.

Authorities were stationed outside Hickox’s door to make sure she abides by the court’s order.

The Hickox case comes on the heels of a pizza trip by NBC medical adviser Dr. Nancy Snyderman’s decision to go on a pizza run during her Ebola quarantine. She and her crew were on lockdown after returning from Africa where they had reported on the fight against the disease.

Talking heads on news shows have been pontificating on the issue nonstop. The latest turn would probably be less surprising were it not medical professionals breaking the quarantines. Most of us look to physicians and nurses for advice on how to prevent illnesses from reaching epidemic proportions, so when they’re the ones thumbing their noses at the suggestion that they could be harborers of the disease, you can understand our confusion.

The courts have spoken, so it doesn’t really matter if Hickox’s rights are in jeopardy. It’s probably best that she and Snyderman take one for the team, stay indoors and read a good book … say one on Ebola.