The Department of Homeland Security is requiring travelers to pass through one of five U.S. airports if they are coming from the three African countries hit hard by the Ebola virus.
Last week, DHS said it would require additional screening for passengers coming on international flights to those five airports – New York Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Atlanta Hartsfield and Chicago O’Hare – to make sure that nobody was sick when he or she entered the country.
Those airports handle about 94 percent of the passengers who arrive in the United States from Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea, the countries with the high number of Ebola cases. For example, Thomas Duncan, the Liberian who died of the Ebola virus in Dallas, passed through Washington Dulles on his way here.
But those airports don’t handle all the passengers coming from the three West African countries. Therefore, the U.S. stepped in to make sure they do, and therefore go through the added health screening.
“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”
UPDATE, 3:55 p.m.: U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow called the latest actions “a substantive step in addressing an issue the public has understandably expressed a great deal of concern about, while avoiding a policy overreaction with harmful unintended consequences.” Said Dow:
“This new policy maximizes efficiency, because the screening measures that were already up and running will now capture all of the passengers from at-risk African countries, as opposed to the 94 percent they were picking up before. We believe this announcement will achieve the aim of keeping sick people out of the U.S., without abandoning whole countries in their efforts to fight Ebola or driving travelers from those countries ‘underground’ in attempts to reach the U.S.
“The Obama administration continues to heed the counsel of an overwhelming consensus of health and security experts, and resist calls for any sort of travel ban on the grounds that it will be counterproductive to efforts to contain Ebola.
“The travel community is monitoring the situation very closely, and will continue to disseminate the most accurate and current information possible and assist in any other way we can.”
Keep reading for Johnson’s entire statement:
Statement by Secretary Johnson on Travel Restrictions and Protective Measures to Prevent the Spread of Ebola to the United States
Release Date:
October 21, 2014
For Immediate Release
DHS Press Office
Today, as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s ongoing response to prevent the spread of Ebola to the United States, we are announcing travel restrictions in the form of additional screening and protective measures at our ports of entry for travelers from the three West African Ebola-affected countries. These new measures will go into effect tomorrow.
Last week, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DHS implemented enhanced screening measures at five airports around the country – New York’s JFK, Newark, Dulles, Atlanta and Chicago. Passengers flying into one of these airports from flights originating in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are subject to secondary screening and added protocols, including having their temperature taken, before they can be admitted into the United States. These airports account for about 94 percent of travelers flying to the United States from these countries. At present there are no direct, non-stop commercial flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to any airport in the United States.
Today, I am announcing that all passengers arriving in the United States whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will be required to fly into one of the five airports that have the enhanced screening and additional resources in place. We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption. If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.
We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days.
Yesterday I had a conference call with our CBP officers at the five enhanced screening airports. I was impressed by their professionalism, and their training and preparation for the enhanced screening. I reminded our CBP officers to be vigilant in their efforts, and encouraged them to set a calm example for an American public nervous about Ebola. I thanked these men and women for their service.
We are continually evaluating whether additional restrictions or added screening and precautionary measures are necessary to protect the American people and will act accordingly.