The quarantine showdown

Mandatory quarantines ordered by some U.S. states on doctors and nurses returning from West Africa's Ebola outbreak are creating a "chilling effect" on Doctors Without Borders operations there, the humanitarian group said on Thursday. LePage's office said negotiations with cooker, who worked with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, "have failed despite repeated efforts by state officials" and that he would "exercise the full extent of his authority allowable by law." Hickox left her home in the small Maine town of Fort Kent, along the Canadian border, and television news images showed her taking a morning bicycle ride with her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur. Hickox has given the New England state a deadline of Thursday to lift an order that she remain at home until Nov. 10, or she will go to court. “It’s a beautiful day for a bike ride,” said Hickox, wearing a helmet and other bike gear as she headed out for her 3-mile (5-km) ride while police stationed outside her house stood by without trying to stop her, according to local media. LePage's office said he was open to an arrangement in which she could go for walks, runs or bike rides but not go into public places or come within 3 feet (1 meter) of other people. “I was ready and willing - and remain ready and willing - to reasonably address the needs of healthcare workers meeting guidelines to assure the public health is protected,” said LePage, a Republican locked in a tough three-way re-election battle. President Barack Obama, who has criticized mandatory quarantine policies imposed by some states for returning medical workers like Hickox, flew to Maine on Thursday to campaign in the town of Cape Elizabeth for Democratic candidates, including Mike Michaud, who is trying to unseat LePage in Tuesday's midterm elections. Asked for comment on Hickox's situation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Maine that U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials have been in regular touch with the health authorities in the state. "Ultimately, it is their decision," said Earnest, adding that Obama had no plans to see Hickox while in Maine. Cape Elizabeth is at the opposite end of the state, on its southeastern coast. One of Hickox's attorneys, Norman Siegel, defended his client's decision to go for a bike ride but noted that she avoided the center of town so as not to “freak people out.” “Since there’s no court order, she can be out in public,” Siegel said. “Even if people disagree with her position, I would hope they respect the fact that she’s taking into account the fear, which is based on misinformation about the way the disease is transmitted.” Medical professionals say Ebola is difficult to catch and is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and is not transmitted by asymptomatic people. Ebola is not airborne. U.S. concern about the disease is high even though there is only one person in the country currently being treated for it, a New York doctor, Craig Spencer, who cared for patients in West Africa. Spencer, 33, remains in serious but stable condition, New York's Bellevue Hospital said on Thursday. Hickox tested negative for Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone, one of the three impoverished countries at the heart of the outbreak that has killed about 5,000 people there.