US soldier being decontaminated

The Pentagon on Wednesday ordered a 21-day quarantine for all troops returning from West Africa as controversy raged over the US government’s attempts to prevent the spread of Ebola.

The move exposed a split between the Ebola response from the US military and from other government agencies, with civilian health workers subjected to less strict measures than American soldiers.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s decision came amid a growing debate about the government’s handling of the crisis, with some medical experts accusing some US states of taking draconian measures with no basis in science.

The case of American nurse Kaci Hickox, who recently returned from Sierra Leone and was quarantined for several days in an outdoor isolation tent at a New Jersey hospital, remained at the center of the furor.

Hickox is now in her home state of Maine, where officials intend to ask her to respect a home quarantine. But the nurse has said she will take action unless the restrictions are lifted by Thursday.

“I will go to court to attain my freedom,” Hickox, who worked for Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, told ABC via Skype from her home in Fort Kent, Maine.

“I have been completely asymptomatic since I’ve been here. I feel absolutely great.”

Hickox, 29, was quarantined after arriving at Newark international airport despite showing no Ebola symptoms. Hickox said she believes the temperature that officials cited for her quarantine was incorrect.

President Barack Obama has been criticized for moving too slowly to counter the outbreak but he has appealed for calm, making a point of thanking American health workers who have traveled to West Africa to treat Ebola patients.

He said his administration’s approach was based on “science, not fear” and argued the best way to protect Americans was to stop the virus “at the source” in the hard-hit countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.