A nurse held in isolation in New Jersey over the weekend will be discharged on Monday after being found to have no symptoms of the Ebola virus.
The nurse, Kaci Hickox, will be discharged, the New Jersey Department of Health said in a statement. She will be transferred to Maine.
Hickox, who had recently travelled to Sierra Leone to work with Doctors Without Borders, was held in isolation upon her arrival to Newark Airport on Friday.
Kaci Hickox one of America's #Ebola heroes. No ticker tape parade - but a tent & incarceration (Pic: @NYTimes) pic.twitter.com/UNccIcDCmA— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) October 27, 2014
She had no symptoms upon arrival, but according to the New Jersey Department of Health, she later developed a fever while quarantined at the airport. The New Jersey Department of Health said the patient was transferred from the airport's quarantine station to Newark's University Hospital for "evaluation and isolation."
Hickox, in a letter published in the Dallas News recounting her experience in isolation, said that she believed the forehead scanner may have misread her temperature.
"An oral thermometer would be more accurate and that the forehead scanner was recording an elevated temperature because I was flushed and upset," said Hickox.
From @NJDeptofhealth: "Since testing negative for Ebola early Saturday morning, the patient being monitored in isolation..." (cont— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 27, 2014
"She will remain subject to New Jersey's mandatory quarantine order while in New Jersey," the statement said, adding that "health officials in Maine have been notified of her arrangements and will make a determination under their own laws on her treatment when she arrives."
Hickox criticized her treatment while in isolation, describing the conditions as prison-like.
EXCLUSIVE. NJ has decided to discharge nurse I'm told. Private transportation will take her to Maine. Has been asymptomatic for 24 hours.— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) October 27, 2014
The nurse's release marks a reversal for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who announced a tougher protocol for healthcare workers returning to New Jersey on Friday.
Christie was widely criticized for the decision, but New Jersey's health department maintained that Hickox's conditions in isolation were "comfortable," noting that she had her choice of "nourishment" during her time in isolation.
"While in isolation, every effort was made to insure that she remained comfortable..." (cont) @NJDeptofhealth— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 27, 2014
"...with access to a computer, cell phone, reading material and nourishment of choice." - @NJDeptofhealth— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 27, 2014
On Monday, Christie told reporters that his priority was to "protect the people of [his] state" and dismissed critics of his approach to the Ebola crisis.
"I would be more than happy to have her go home because that is where she will be most comfortable," said Christie. "I was not going to back off for a moment until we had confirmation of all that, just because she didn't want to be there."