There is a saying that the government closest to the people governs best. This was the case in Fort Kent last week, where local officials set a calm, rational tone when it became known that nurse Kaci Hickox would be coming to the northern Maine town after being released from a quarantine in New Jersey, where she arrived after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.
“People just need to calm down and respect the situation she is in,” Town Manager Don Guimond said last Monday. “She just wants to come home, and she has every right to come home.”
The town’s police chief, Tom Pelletier, had daily, often face-to-face, contact with Hickox and remained a voice of reason throughout the nearly weeklong spectacle.
Pelletier, who brought food to Hickox and her boyfriend, said last Tuesday that he believed the public had no reason to be fearful of Hickox coming to Fort Kent, and that such fears are the result of “the media frenzy” blowing it out of proportion.
“We are dealing here with a health care professional who has dealt with Ebola and is well educated on the disease and what it can do,” Pelletier said. “I truly believe she would be the first one to not put others in jeopardy.”
Pelletier pointed out that Hickox twice has tested negative for Ebola and is showing no symptoms.
By contrast, Gov. Paul LePage fanned the flames of hysteria by threatening court action to keep Hickox quarantined, which state law does not allow for someone who is not sick. LePage ultimately did ask a judge to restrict Hickox’s movements and to require her to stay three feet away from other people. Judge Charles LaVerdiere, citing the fact that Hickox has no signs of Ebola “and is therefore not infectious,” denied the request on Friday.
His ruling includes, as the judge said, “a few critical observations.” “First, we would not be here today unless [Hickox] generously, kindly and with compassion lent her skills to aid, comfort, and care for individuals stricken with a terrible disease. We need to remember as we go through this matter that we owe her and all professionals who give of themselves in this way a debt of gratitude.”
LaVerdiere added: “The court is fully aware of the misconceptions, misinformation, bad science and bad information being spread from shore to shore in our country with respect to Ebola. The court is fully aware that people are acting out of fear and that this fear is not entirely rational. However, whether that fear is rational or not, it is present and it is real.”
He then suggested that Hickox recognize that such fear exists and “guide herself accordingly.”
On Monday, Hickox said she would follow the judge’s ruling to continue to undergo regular health monitoring until Nov. 10, the end of the 21-day Ebola incubation period. She will also notify state officials of any travel plans.
LePage said he didn’t trust Hickox but that the state would abide by LaVerdiere’s ruling, while criticizing the judge. “We don’t know what we don’t know about Ebola,” he said Friday. “Therefore, I’m a little disappointed. But the monkey’s on [the judge’s] back, not mine. He made the decision.”
During the same interview in Yarmouth, the governor was asked about a CDC report that a restaurant worker in Cumberland County may have exposed diners to hepatitis A. LePage tied “illegals in our country” to a “spike in hepatitis, tuberculosis and HIV.” The CDC did not identify the restaurant, or the server or his or her nationality.
Fear is a powerful motivator, but repeatedly falling back on it is not leadership.