Ebola Nurse Kaci Hickox Battling Quarantine Is Now Clear Of 21-Day Incubation Period

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who fought against her quarantine after returning from West Africa, has been deemed healthy. The 21-day Ebola incubation period has now passed as of Tuesday.

The nurse treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and was detained and quarantined in New Jersey upon returning to the U.S. The Maine native defied quarantine orders and returned to her home in Fort Kent, where Maine officials tried to have her quarantined under court orders. A state judge ultimately ordered that Hickox did not require quarantine but that she needed to be to be monitored daily; the judge's order also expired as of Tuesday.

"Today Kaci is Ebola-free. It's proof that the system works and we don't need to be quarantining anyone. The direct-active monitoring system works better than governors and politicians getting involved," Hickox significant other, Ted Wilbur told the Associated Press. Hickox never tested positive for Ebola, although she did experience a fever while detained in New Jersey. Since then, she has shown no signs or symptoms of Ebola.

Hickox’s quarantine is not the only issue that the couple has had to deal with; Wilbur withdrew from an accelerated nursing program at the University of Maine at Fort Kent after claiming that the school’s officials banned him from campus in order to avoid scaring other students.

Hickox and Wilbur plan to move from Fort Kent, which is on the Canadian border, to southern Maine, and they will spend some time in Freeport while deciding their next move. Hickox says she may return to college and has no qualms about returning to West Africa, stating she would do it "in a heartbeat."