US nurse 'to take legal action' over confinement
New York, 27 Oct - (ANA) - A US nurse held in quarantine in New Jersey after treating Ebola patients in West Africa says she will challenge her confinement in a federal court. Kaci Hickox said she was made to feel like a criminal after returning from Sierra Leone last Friday. Her lawyer says the case has raised "serious constitutional and civil liberties issues". The White House and mayor of New York have expressed concerns over new strict quarantine orders in several US states. The new rules in New York, New Jersey and Illinois require a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for all health workers who have had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa and just returned to the US. On Sunday New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an easing of the quarantine restrictions in his state.  Under the latest guidelines, returning health workers who have displayed no symptoms can return to their homes for the quarantine period, where they will be monitored twice daily. Compensation will be offered for loss of earnings. Governor Cuomo was later quoted by Reuters as saying that the state wanted to encourage health workers to go to the Ebola outbreak zone. The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said that all returning US health workers should be "treated like conquering heroes and not stigmatized for the tremendous work that they have done". (ANA)
FA/ANA/27 October 2014------------