The taking of temperatures, medical history questions, and deeper physical scrutiny will meet air travelers from Ebola-stricken areas of the world as these passengers attempt to enter the United States, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday,
Politico reports.
The tightened screening is a part of the U.S. government's ongoing response to the emerging health crisis to ensure the deadly virus is not spread within its border, officials said, amid criticism and concern from lawmakers urging a stronger and better-organized response.
"I can assure you that we will be taking additional steps, and we will be making those public in the coming days once we can work out the details," Tom Frieden, the CDC's director said, according to Politico.
Sen. Chuck Schumer also announced further details, noting that the U.S. Coast Guard would begin screening personnel on cargo ships as they arrive at U.S. ports from areas impacted by the Ebola outbreak, Politico said.
The body-temperature screenings and health questionnaires will be administered to West African region air passengers at five major U.S. airports, according to
The Washington Post.
They include John F. Kennedy International Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, O'Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport — all ports with heavy international traffic.
The news comes as Texas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan died after being hospitalized at a Dallas hospital and undergoing experimental drug therapy,
ABC News reported.
Duncan had traveled to the United States from Liberia after he rekindled a relationship with the mother of his 19-year-old son, whose high school graduation he attended late last month, the
Huffington Post reported.
The hospital issued a statement about his death Wednesday morning, according to
BNO News.
The death is likely to spark greater fears of the virus's spread in the United States, as thousands have now died in West Africa, where limited hospital care remains a problem in the war-torn region.
The CDC's Frieden noted the impossibility of limiting that spread, The Post reported.
"We recognize that whatever we do, until the disease is controlled in Africa, we can't get the risk to zero here," he said. "We may be able to reduce it."
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