By Scott Stump

A Florida woman says she is not being allowed to return home to finish her quarantine despite being told she could voluntarily leave a facility in Nebraska.

An American passenger who was aboard a cruise ship that endured a deadly hantavirus outbreak says she is being held in a federal quarantine facility against her will due to a public health battle between the state of Florida and the CDC.

Angela Perryman, 47, says she is seeking to finish her six-week quarantine period, which ends on June 22, in her home state of Florida. She is currently at the National Quarantine Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and has not shown symptoms or tested positive for hantavirus, she said.

“I don’t think there has been a day since I’ve been here that I didn’t cry,” she said June 11.

She described the conditions to Vespa as like being in “prison” and “solitary confinement.”

One of her lawyers told Vespa that Florida state officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can’t agree on the conditions of what a quarantine in Florida should be. Perryman’s attorneys are trying to get her released before her six-week quarantine period ends in 11 days but say a resolution before then is unlikely.

“I’m caught in a power struggle between the federal government and the state of Florida, and I’m being held hostage,” Perryman told Vespa.

Perryman said Florida health officials are pushing back against the CDC requirement that states place law enforcement or public health workers outside the homes of those in quarantine and check their temperature twice a day in person.

In a May 28 letter from Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, he wrote that the 24/7 surveillance and in-person monitoring of a returning quarantine patient is “not necessary.”

Ladapo said in the letter that Florida plans to offer a voluntary quarantine agreement that stipulates in-home isolation without other occupants, daily monitoring via telehealth that includes temperature and symptom checks, and plans for travel and access to any emergency services.

In a statement, a Florida Health spokesperson wrote: “Florida remains willing to facilitate the individual’s return and any appropriate public health monitoring consistent with established public health practices. At this time, neither the state of Florida nor the Department is planning to implement round-the-clock surveillance measures.

“Florida’s approach is guided by science, risk assessment and respect for individual liberty. The state does not believe unnecessarily intrusive restrictions are warranted when established public health practices can effectively protect both public health and personal freedom. We remain in communication with federal and local partners regarding travel and public health guidance and will continue working to support a safe and appropriate process moving forward.”

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Perryman’s story.