In a bid to prevent another case of Ebola surfacing in the U.S. and to curb concerns of a possible Ebola outbreak, President Barack Obama said on Oct. 6 that the government will adopt protocols for more stringent screening of airline passengers arriving in the country, particularly those coming from Ebola stricken parts of West Africa.
The President's announcement came two weeks after a man who had contracted the highly fatal disease abroad managed to enter the country. Thomas Eric Duncan arrived in Dallas, Texas from Liberia on Sept. 20. Four days later, he exhibited symptoms and was admitted to the hospital. Duncan is currently being treated at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where doctors said he is in critical condition. The healthcare workers and family members he had contact with are currently being monitored.
The President said that lessons have been learned from the incident in Dallas but is confident that an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. will be unlikely. Still, he said, "We don't have a lot of margin for error."
"This is an issue about our safety," the President said. "It is very important for us to make sure that we are treating this the same way that we would treat any other significant national security threat."
Despite political pressures to impose a travel ban, the White House does not yet consider cutting flights between U.S. and West Africa, where over 3,000 have already been killed and thousands of others have been struck by the hemorrhagic Ebola virus.
Obama, however, said that measures are being considered to beef up the country's defenses against the virus stating that officials are already working on additional protocols for screening flight passengers to identify people infected by Ebola.
"Procedures are now in place to rapidly evaluate anybody who might be showing symptoms," Obama said. "In recent months we've had thousands of travelers arriving here from West Africa, and so far only one case of Ebola's been diagnosed in the United States, and that's the patient in Dallas."
Officials said that the screening processes are intended to strengthen the procedures for checking incoming passengers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic. Passengers bound for international travel from these nations are screened using visual assessments and health questionnaires. They also have their temperatures taken.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Tom Frieden said that the options being considered will be evaluated for effectiveness.
"We're looking at all of the options," Frieden said. "We want to do something that protects Americans, not something that is for show or something that won't have an impact."
