‘We are not trying to push limits’

Kaci Hickox, a nurse who returned home to Maine after treating Ebola patients in West Africa, said she wouldnt comply with a state quarantine. Photo: AP

Not troublemakers ... Kaci Hickox with her boyfriend Ted Wilbur outside her house in Fort Kent. Picture: Supplied.

THE boyfriend of an Ebola nurse refusing to be quarantined insists she is not trying to get anyone sick or push any limits.

Kaci Hickox, who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, purposefully rode their bikes away from town on a dirt path to avoid coming into contact with people.

"We're not trying to push any limits here. We're members of this community, too, and we want to make people comfortable," he told reporters.

Ms Hickox, who returned to the US last week, has been under what Maine is calling a voluntary quarantine at her home in this town of 4300 people.

Bike ride ... Nurse Kaci Hickox, right, and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur ride bikes on a trail near her home in Fort Kent, Maine. Picture: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty. Source: AP

She has rebelled against the restrictions, saying that her rights are being violated and that she is no threat to others because she has no symptoms. She tested negative last weekend for Ebola, though it can take days for the virus to reach detectable levels.

State officials said that they were seeking a court order to require a quarantine through November 10, the end of the 21-day incubation period for the Ebola virus.

But it was unclear whether the state had gone to court or whether there had been any progress in negotiations aimed at a compromise.

Quarantine ... Kaci Hickox in an isolation tent at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Picture: AP Photo/Steven Hyman. Source: AP

Fort Kent Police Chief Tom Pelletier went inside the home briefly and said afterwards, "We just had a good conversation." He said he was not there to arrest or detain Ms Hickox.

Governor Paul LePage said state attorneys and Ms Hickox's lawyers had discussed a scaled-down quarantine that would have allowed her to go for walks, runs and bicycle rides while preventing her from venturing into populated public places or coming within a metre of others.

"I was ready and willing — and remain ready and willing — to reasonably address the needs of health care workers meeting guidelines to assure the public health is protected," he said.

She's not sick ... Ted Wilbur, the boyfriend of nurse Kaci Hickox, speaks to reporters outside their home in Fort Kent, Maine. Picture: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty. Source: AP

Hickox stepped into the media glare when she returned from West Africa to become subject to a mandatory quarantine in New Jersey. After an uproar, she was released and travelled more than 960 kilometres to the small town on the Canadian border where she lives with her boyfriend.

Reporters have camped out at their home.

Mr Wilbur said he and Ms Hickox spent the day Thursday vacuuming, cleaning, doing laundry and watching a movie, The Avengers. He said he also spent four hours attending class via phone. He has agreed to stay away from the University of Maine at Fort Kent for the time being.

During their hourlong bike ride, they were followed by an unmarked state police cruiser. Later, they took delivery of a pizza.

Answering questions ... Kaci Hickox and boyfriend Ted Wilbur. Picture: AP Photo/Portland Press Herald, Whitney Hayward. Source: AP

States have broad authority under long-established law to quarantine people to prevent the spread of disease. In Maine, state law allows a judge to confine someone if health officials demonstrate "a clear and immediate public health threat."

US President Barack Obama and humanitarian groups have warned that such measures could cripple the fight against the disease at its source by discouraging volunteers like Hickox from going to West Africa, where the outbreak has sickened more than 13,000 people and killed nearly 5000 of them.

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