The Wall Street Journal
By Joseph De Avila
Updated Oct. 11, 2014 12:14 p.m. ET
Ebola screenings began on Saturday at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport for travelers coming from the most-affected West African countries, in an effort to curb the spread of the disease in the U.S.
About two dozen flights with some passengers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were expected to land at JFK on Saturday, according to officials with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport. Each of those flights is expected to have about three or four passengers from the affected areas, officials said.
No direct flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were arriving at JFK on Saturday, Port Authority officials said. All the passengers from those countries had connected on flights through European airports, including those in Paris and Brussels.
“No matter how many of these procedures are put into place, we can’t get the risk to zero,” said Martin Cetron, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, at a news conference at the airport. He said these new measures wouldn’t necessarily have detected Ebola in the now-deceased patient who recently arrived in Dallas.
Nonetheless, he said, “this additional layer should add a measure of security and assurance to the American public.”
JFK airport is the first U.S. airport to begin screenings for Ebola. Washington Dulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Hartsfield—Jackson Atlanta International Airport will begin screenings next week.
Those five airports account for 94% of all the 150 travelers who on average arrive daily from those most affected countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past 12 months, JFK received about half the passengers from those countries entering into the U.S., according to the CDC.
In its latest update, the World Health Organization said 4,033 people had died of confirmed, suspected or probable cases of Ebola.
Each of the most-heavily affected countries screen outbound passengers for Ebola symptoms before they fly. About 36,000 people have been screened over the past three months, according to the CDC. Of those, 77 people weren’t allowed to fly, but none was ultimately diagnosed with Ebola. Many actually had malaria, the CDC said.
Passengers arriving at JFK from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will be taken to an area of the airport designated for the screenings. Officials will question each passenger to find out if they have possibly been exposed to Ebola. Staff will take the passengers’ body temperature and check for other symptoms of the disease.
If a traveler exhibits symptoms of Ebola or has been exposed to the disease, the CDC will determine whether that person will be allowed to continue their travel, be taken to a hospital for evaluation or referred to local health department for monitoring.
Health officials say air travelers have a very low risk of contracting the disease. Only individuals who exhibit symptoms can transmit the disease to others. Infections happen when there is direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions with a person who has the disease.
- Source ► http://online.wsj.com
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