The United States said Wednesday that American citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo must spend 21 days in a third country before entering the United States, citing concerns about the Ebola outbreak in the region.
The restrictions, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a July 14 website update, also apply to some travelers from Uganda and South Sudan. Other travelers from those countries will continue to be subject to screening at airports, as they have in recent months.
The CDC said exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian or law enforcement reasons.
Reuters It first reported on the new policy on Tuesday, saying the Trump administration was preventing Americans in the Congo from boarding commercial flights bound for the United States.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a former top CDC official who led the agency’s response during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said Tuesday that using a “no-tackle” policy to prevent U.S. citizens from returning home when they are at low risk of Ebola infection is unprecedented.
“This change in policy risks shifting medical and public health responsibility to third countries, may encourage travelers to conceal itineraries or exposures, and will make recruiting U.S. outbreak response personnel more difficult.”
The CDC and other federal agencies had already issued an order this spring that prevented noncitizens, including those with expanded legal status, from entering the United States directly from those three countries and required the same 21-day stay in another country.
Americans had been allowed into select airports, where officials screened them based on their travel history, temperature and symptoms.
The outbreak in Congo has caused more than 1,900 confirmed cases of Ebola and more than 700 deaths, according to official data, all cases related to the Bundibugyo strain.
According to the CDC, no cases related to the outbreak have been confirmed in the United States and the risk to the American public and travelers remains low.
