By David Shepardson and Julie Steenhuysen
May 21 (Reuters) – Americans who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the last three weeks must only return to the United States through one airport, Washington D.C.’s Dulles International, for enhanced screening for the Ebola virus, the State Department said Thursday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Customs and Border Protection are applying enhanced public health screening at Dulles in response to the DRC Ebola outbreak, which has killed 139 people and infected as many as 600.
Earlier this week, the U.S. banned non-citizens who had traveled to those countries in recent weeks from entering the country. On Wednesday, an Air France flight from Paris headed to Detroit was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the DRC boarded “in error,” the customs agency said.
EXPERTS PREDICT BOTTLENECKS
Funneling travelers to just one airport represents a departure from the response to the 2014 to 2016 outbreak in West Africa when the U.S. screened in five international airports and will create bottlenecks and logistical challenges for travelers, infectious disease experts said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday the diversion was meant to “protect the American people.”
“Objective number one is to make sure that Ebola never reaches the United States. Objective number two is do what we can to help the people of DRC and neighboring countries so it doesn’t spread,” he said.
Prior administrations have focused on containing emerging infectious diseases at their source, before they spread and cross international borders.
In 2014, the United States required travelers returning from three African countries over Ebola concerns to arrive at one of five U.S. airports with enhanced screening, including Dulles, New York JFK, Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta.
“Ideally you’d like to see more of a regional effort that would cover more airports, cover more places, but that takes resources and infrastructure,” said Dr Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who noted cuts in public health funding.
CDC STAFF DEPLOYED IN AIRPORT
The policy released on Thursday applies to travelers with U.S. passports.
Those individuals who were in the affected countries in the three weeks prior will be escorted to a screening area in the airport where CDC staff will take their temperature and ask them to provide details of their travel history, symptoms and contact information.
Those who have no symptoms will be allowed to continue their travel. Sick travelers who are believed to be infected or exposed to Ebola will be transferred to a hospital for further assessment.
The outbreak has resulted in 160 suspected deaths out of 670 suspected cases, and 61 of the cases have been confirmed, according to DRC health ministry data published on Thursday.
TRAVEL BAN RAISES CONCERN
Marrazzo raised concerns about the policy prohibiting travel to the U.S. by those with foreign passports.
“Policies that single out individuals not for any scientific or medical reason, but because of their citizenship, won’t prevent outbreaks from spreading,” she said.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern over the weekend, as cases have spread beyond the outbreak’s epicenter in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There are no treatments or vaccines for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola causing the outbreak.
Ugandan Information Minister Chris Baryomunsi told Reuters the U.S. was “overreacting” by banning most travelers from Uganda, along with DRC and South Sudan, earlier this week.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Aurora Ellis and Caroline Humer)
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