In an extraordinary step aimed at containing an Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has told American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and South Sudan that they must spend 21 days in a third country before boarding flights to the United States. The measure, published quietly on the CDC website on July 14 and confirmed by administration officials on July 15, takes immediate effect. It expands earlier rules that applied only to non-U.S. citizens. Under the directive, airlines will bar travelers whose U.S. passports show entry into the three affected nations within the previous 21 days, unless the traveler can document having spent the required quarantine period elsewhere. Limited humanitarian and law-enforcement exemptions will be granted case-by-case. Americans who nevertheless reach a U.S. airport will face denial of boarding on connecting flights and possible civil fines. Health officials say the Bundibugyo-strain outbreak in eastern DRC has surpassed 1,900 cases and spread to porous border regions. No Ebola cases have been detected in the United States, but the CDC argues that routing travelers through buffer countries reduces the burden on U.S. port-of-entry screening teams during the busy summer travel season. Public-health experts, however, called the move unprecedented, noting that even at the height of the 2014 West Africa epidemic the U.S. allowed citizens to return directly under enhanced screening and monitored self-quarantine. Corporate security managers should alert employees on rotation in Central Africa that returns may be delayed and that medical evacuation insurers may not cover costs associated with third-country lodging. Multinationals are already re-routing staff through Nairobi and Addis Ababa to satisfy the 21-day requirement. The policy will be reviewed every two weeks; employers with project-critical travel should build in at least a one-month buffer until further notice.
Source: Reuters via MarketScreener
