Travelers arriving in the United States from the West African nation of Mali will be subject to the same enhanced entry screening as are those coming from the Ebola-stricken countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, because of a rise in the number of confirmed Ebola cases within Mali.
The measure, announced Nov. 16 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security, take effect Monday, Nov. 17. In a written statement, both agencies noted that while there are no direct flights from Mali to the United States, an average of 15-20 passengers per day – most of whom are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents – begin their flight itineraries in Mali with the United States as their eventual destination.
Enhanced entry screenings began in October in an effort to track potential Ebola cases within the United States before they spread. Once passengers land, health officials will collect contact information for all passengers and their friends or relatives in the United States for monitoring purposes. Travelers will then be required to check in with local health agencies every day to report their temperature and any flulike symptoms, and will have to coordinate with the relevant public health officials if they plan to do any additional traveling within the country. If travelers are free of symptoms for 21 days, they are no longer at risk of having or spreading the Ebola virus.
“For ease of administration, we will work with the airlines to ensure rerouting for the few travelers from Mali not already scheduled to land at one of the five airports in the United States (New York JFK, Newark, Washington-Dulles, Chicago-O’Hare, and Atlanta Hartsfield- Jackson) already performing screening on passengers from the other affected West African nations,” the agencies said in the statement.
The first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States was Thomas Eric Duncan, who was diagnosed in Dallas on Sept. 30 and became the country’s first Ebola casualty on Oct. 8. On Monday, Nov. 17, U.S. permanent resident Dr. Martin Salia died at Nebraska Medical Center after working with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone.