With new cases of Ebola confirmed in Mali, airline passengers from that West African country will be subject to the same screening as people flying from other Ebola-affected nations beginning Monday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security on Sunday added Mali to the watch list that already includes Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. Passengers from those nations are subject to “enhanced entry screening” and three weeks of monitoring when they fly into the United States at one of five airports, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.
There are no direct flights from Mali, so the new rule applies to the roughy 15-20 passengers a day who start their trips there. In addition to the airport screening, these passengers will be subject to 21-day health and travel monitoring, with twice daily temperature and symptom checks in coordination with state or local public health authorities.
If they’re not already flying to one of the five airports conducting Ebola screening, they’ll be re-routed there. Besides Hartsfield-Jackson, the international airports conducting the screening are: John F. Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare.
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