U.S. Will Screen for Ebola at Five Major Airports

The U.S. government will begin screening travelers arrivingfrom West Africa for the Ebola virus at five major airports beginning this weekend. New layers of screening will be conducted at New York JFK International Airport on October 11, followed by Washington-Dulles, Newark Liberty, Chicago O’Hare, and Atlanta international airports, which combined receive 94 percent of travelers from Ebola-affected nations.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced the enhanced screening measures in a joint release on October 8. According to the release, travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will be escorted by personnel from DHS’s Customs and Border Protection agency to screening areas at the airports, where trained staff will observe them for signs of illness, ask them a series of health and exposure questions and provide health information. Medical staff “will take their temperature with a non-contact thermometer.”

The agencies said that exit screening at airports in the countries affected by Ebola “remains the principal means of keeping travelers from spreading Ebola to other nations. All three of these nations have asked for, and continue to receive, CDC assistance in strengthening exit screening.”