The United States will soon be monitoring travelers arriving in the country from two nations affected by the Ebola virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Friday. The CDC confirmed these plans after CBS News first released the details on Friday night.
Starting next week, the “very small number” of travelers arriving from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be channeled to six US airports, where their information will be collected and shared with local health officials, said the CDC.
As of February 25, nine Ebola cases have been reported in Guinea, resulting in five deaths, and eight cases have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in four deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The CDC emphasized in its statement that “the outbreaks are concentrated in remote areas of these countries” and said that “the risk of Ebola to the United States is extremely low “.
The CDC said the airlines “will collect and transmit passenger information to the CDC for follow-up and public health intervention for all passengers who have boarded a flight to the US who have been in the DRC or Guinea for the previous 21 days. This information will be shared with the US state and local health departments to properly monitor arrivals in their jurisdiction. ”
A source familiar with the decision said that John F. Kennedy in New York, Dulles outside Washington, DC, O’Hare in Chicago, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Los Angeles International Airport and Newark Liberty outside New York were being considered. monitoring points. The CDC has not specified which airports it intends to use.
This funneling approach is similar to the measures taken in 2014, when travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were directed to five of these airports, where they had their temperature measured on arrival.
Between March 2014 and April 2016, there were more than 28,000 cases of Ebola in West Africa and 11,310 people died, according to the CDC.
With the COVID-19 pandemic underway, there is recognition within the CDC that resources for additional monitoring are scarce, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Nearly 30,000 people have been monitored by the CDC for Ebola as of 2014, an effort that required hundreds of CDC employees, said the CDC.
“This is a great example of how we should be prepared for anything in the public health arena,” said another source familiar with the monitoring discussions before the news was announced.
In 2014, the Obama administration appointed Ron Klain to lead the US strategy for Ebola. Klain is now President Biden’s chief of staff.
Christina Ruffini and Max Bayer contributed to this story.