- *ENHANCED EBOLA SCREENINGS TO START AT JFK FIRST: CNN
Following CDC Director Frieden's warning yesterday, the AP reports [4], US Homeland Security has unveiled additional more stringent monitoring of all travelers to the US for the Ebola virus:
- *U.S. AIRPORTS TO TAKE TEMPS OF TRAVELERS FROM W. AFRICA: WPOST
- *FIVE OF BUSIEST U.S. AIRPORTS TO TAKE TEMPERATURES, POST SAYS
The Homeland Security Department has ordered agents at airports and other ports of entry to observe everyone coming into the United States for potential signs of Ebola infection.
Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says Customs and Border Protection agents are also handing out factsheets to travelers with details of what symptoms to look for and directions to call a doctor if they become sick within 21 days.
Mayorkas did not elaborate on how they would observe people or say when the new measures would begin.
He said agents would observe all travelers for "general signs of illness" at the points of entry. He spoke at an airport security conference in Northern Virginia on Wednesday.
The Obama administration has wrestled in recent weeks with what it can do effectively to detect arriving passengers who may be carrying the disease since many of them may not be symptomatic when they arrive.
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As The Washington Post reports, [5]
Travelers originating in West African countries will be given questionnaires and have their temperatures taken at these U.S. airports, a federal official said Wednesday.
The heightened screening measures will be rolled out as soon as possible, the official said, perhaps as soon as this weekend. But the details of exactly how this would be implemented remain unclear, with the details under discussion at the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So far, the screening will occur at five key hubs: John F. Kennedy International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, O’Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
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Not a total surprise
