A stepped-up screening program will be checking the temperature of travelers arriving from West Africa at New York's Kennedy International Airport as part of an ongoing effort to stop the spread of Ebola, according to Reuters.
The effort to screen travelers from the three West African countries most affected by Ebola starts Saturday at Kennedy and will be expanded over the next week to Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, Reuters reported.
Customs officials say about 150 people travel daily from or through Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea to the United States, and nearly 95 percent of them land first at one of the five airports, according to Reuters.
Health officials expect false alarms from travelers who have fever from other illnesses, but Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms begin, and it spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of patients, Reuters reported.
There are no direct flights to the U.S. from the three countries, but Homeland Security officials said last week they can track passengers back to where their trips began, even if they make several stops, Reuters reported. Airlines from Morocco, France and Belgium are still flying in and out of West Africa.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the new screening measures are "really just belt and suspenders" to support protections already in place. Border Patrol agents already look for people who are obviously ill, as do flight crews, and passengers departing from West Africa are being screened, according to Reuters.
Public health workers at Kennedy Airport will use no-touch thermometers to take the temperatures of the travelers from the three Ebola-ravaged countries; those who have a fever will be interviewed to determine whether they may have had contact with someone infected with Ebola, Reuters reported. There are quarantine areas at each of the five airports that can be used if necessary.
