Economic Collapse

[Bertsllc]

Why hasn’t the U.S. closed its airports to travelers from Ebola-ravaged countries?

Now that a man in the United States has been diagnosed with Ebola, some are asking why we haven't stopped allowing people traveling from West Africa into our airports.

Thomas Eric Duncan, the patient currently being treated in the Dallas area, boarded a flight from Liberia on Sept. 19 and arrived in Texas on Sept. 20. United Airlines said Wednesday that it was told by the CDC that Duncan had used the airline to travel from Brussels to Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., before flying from Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Authorities have said repeatedly that there is no danger of anyone getting sick from flying with Duncan because he was not symptomatic at the time.

But with every connecting flight carrying passengers who have recently been in the Ebola-ravaged countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia, the chances of another exportation increase. Scares are increasing, too: On Saturday, CDC officials were dispatched to Newark Liberty International airport after a passenger on an incoming flight from Brussels began vomiting, NBC New York reported.

Several African nations have restricted or banned air travel from Ebola-stricken countries, and airlines including Kenya Airways, British Airways, Air Cote D’Ivoire and Nigeria's Arik Air have suspended flights from the countries. Front Page Africa reported Wednesday, though, that Kenya Airways and Air Cote D’Ivoire are expected to resume some of their so-called "Ebola flights" this month.

Others airlines have greatly reduced air travel in the region. Some of that is a natural consequence of the fact that few people, save for aid workers and government officials, are traveling in and out of the region.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/10/01/why-hasnt-the-u-s-closed-its-airports-to-travelers-from-ebola-ravaged-countries/