United States to monitor travelers from Ebola-affected nations
Health |
Travelers to the U.S. will monitored for Ebola for 21 days from the date of their departure from one of three West African nations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that U.S. public health authorities will monitor for Ebola all travelers into the U.S. whose trips originates from three West African nations.
The CDC said in a statement that passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone not showing illness or symptoms consistent with Ebola will be tracked daily by state and local health departments for 21 days from the date of their departure from West Africa. Ebola has a 21-day incubation period. Passengers who exhibit symptoms will be immediately isolated and treated.
Travelers from West Africa will now arrive at one of five designated U.S. airports New York JFK International, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, Washington Dulles International, OHare International in Chicago, and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta - where entry screening is being conducted by Customs and Border Protection and the CDC.
The airports receive approximately 70 percent of incoming West African travelers and are in the process of implementing the post-arrival screenings that will begin Oct. 27.
The screenings will require travelers to report information such as temperatures and the presence or absence of other symptoms such as headaches, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite, or abnormal bleeding. Travelers will also be required to inform authorities about their travels within the U.S.
If a traveler fails to check in, health officials will take immediate steps to locate the individual to ensure that active monitoring continues on a daily basis, said the CDC announcement.
"Its to try to put in place the kinds of policies that we believe will do the most to protect the American people and to protect the health of the American people," said the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
President Barack Obama also met with his Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain and members of his team coordinating the government's response to the virus in the U.S.
Obama said he is "cautiously more optimistic" about the situation in the U.S. as dozens of people who had contact with the U.S first Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, were found not to have been infected by the virus and those who arrived in the country after being infected in West Africa have been treated.
The president said additional measures will be put in place as they make sense in order to ensure that we dont see a continuing spread of this disease.
Anadolu Agency
The CDC said in a statement that passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone not showing illness or symptoms consistent with Ebola will be tracked daily by state and local health departments for 21 days from the date of their departure from West Africa. Ebola has a 21-day incubation period. Passengers who exhibit symptoms will be immediately isolated and treated.
Travelers from West Africa will now arrive at one of five designated U.S. airports New York JFK International, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, Washington Dulles International, OHare International in Chicago, and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta - where entry screening is being conducted by Customs and Border Protection and the CDC.
The airports receive approximately 70 percent of incoming West African travelers and are in the process of implementing the post-arrival screenings that will begin Oct. 27.
The screenings will require travelers to report information such as temperatures and the presence or absence of other symptoms such as headaches, joint and muscle aches, weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, lack of appetite, or abnormal bleeding. Travelers will also be required to inform authorities about their travels within the U.S.
If a traveler fails to check in, health officials will take immediate steps to locate the individual to ensure that active monitoring continues on a daily basis, said the CDC announcement.
"Its to try to put in place the kinds of policies that we believe will do the most to protect the American people and to protect the health of the American people," said the White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.
President Barack Obama also met with his Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain and members of his team coordinating the government's response to the virus in the U.S.
Obama said he is "cautiously more optimistic" about the situation in the U.S. as dozens of people who had contact with the U.S first Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, were found not to have been infected by the virus and those who arrived in the country after being infected in West Africa have been treated.
The president said additional measures will be put in place as they make sense in order to ensure that we dont see a continuing spread of this disease.
Anadolu Agency
