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Starting tomorrow, Dulles International Airport will become one of five U.S. airports travelers from Ebola-stricken countries must pass through before entering the country.
The new restriction, from the Department of Homeland Security, will apply to travelers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The five airports — Dulles, Chicago’s O’Hare, New Jersey’s Newark, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson and New York’s JFK — all have implemented enhanced screening protocols, including taking a temperature reading and observing for signs of illness.
“Yesterday I had a conference call with our [Customs and Border Protection] officers at the five enhanced screening airports. I was impressed by their professionalism, and their training and preparation for the enhanced screening,” DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a release. “I reminded our CBP officers to be vigilant in their efforts, and encouraged them to set a calm example for an American public nervous about Ebola. I thanked these men and women for their service.”
There are no direct flights from the three West African countries impacted by the regulation, according to DHS, and the five airports selected “account for about 94 percent of travelers flying to the United States from these countries.”
Between October 16 and October 20, 113 passengers had been screened at Dulles, and four were transferred to a medical facility afterwards.
Johnson said DHS is “evaluating whether additional restrictions or added screening and precautionary measures are necessary to protect the American people and will act accordingly.”