Hickox, Boyfriend Are Leaving Maine Town

Ted Wilbur has withdrawn from nursing program
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2014 7:41 AM CST
Hickox, Boyfriend Are Leaving Maine Town
Nurse Kaci Hickox is accompanied by boyfriend Ted Wilbur as she speaks outside their home, Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, in Fort Kent, Maine.   (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Kaci Hickox's 21-day Ebola incubation period ends at 11:59pm tomorrow, and the Maine nurse will waste little time after that in getting out of Dodge, reports the Bangor Daily News. Hickox's boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, has withdrawn from the nursing program at the University of Maine Fort Kent, after apparently encountering what an associate dean terms "some real concerns" over his presence; since Hickox's much-discussed return to their home in Maine, Wilbur had been taking classes online. "We worked with Ted and the broader campus community to address all the concerns and uncertainties we faced over the last couple of weeks," says a University of Maine spokesman.

The couple, reports the Daily News, plans to leave town within the week; it's unclear where they're headed, but it's definitely out of town, if not out of the state, notes the AP. "I am not concerned he is a threat to anyone’s health," says the dean. "My only concern is how the other students would react to him being here." But another factor may have been the emergence of what the Daily News calls "several social media sites dedicated to keeping Hickox out of Fort Kent and Maine." Meanwhile, Wilbur is shopping for a new college, notes the AP. Not everyone is happy to see them gone: In an op-ed today in the Daily News, two doctors write: "Thank you to Kaci Hickox, whose bravery and selflessness in going to Sierra Leone to fight Ebola helped all of us in Maine, the US, and the world," lauding her for being willing to "sacrifice her time and, possibly, her life in giving her hard-earned expertise to the people of West Africa." (More Kaci Hickox stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X