US quarantine order for Americans returning from Congo will hurt Ebola response, aid group says

July 15 – Washington’s new policy that says American citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is an Ebola outbreak, must spend 21 days in a third country before entering the U.S. will hinder the response to the epidemic, the head of a large American aid group said.

Franklin Graham, the CEO of an organization that operates Ebola treatment centers and deploys what he described as the largest number of American responders in Congo, said that he will have to scale back the mission because the quarantine order will complicate the recruitment of healthcare workers.

“We would have to curtail our work quite a bit,” Graham told Reuters in a phone interview on Wednesday. “It’s going to hurt us getting the staff that we need.”

The latest Ebola outbreak, Congo’s 17th, has so far led to 2,073 confirmed cases and 796 deaths, according to official figures, with all cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain. It is the third-worst outbreak on record, the World Health Organization has said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pledged to keep Ebola out of the U.S., establishing strict policies that prevent entry of non-citizens months ago. The U.S. is also building a quarantine center in Kenya.

On Tuesday, Reuters first reported on the new policy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that blocks Americans in Congo from boarding U.S.-bound commercial flights.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the new measure aims to reduce the risk of Ebola importation into the United States. It did not comment on specific challenges responders will now face.

“The Department will continue to work with partners to protect the American public while supporting a safe and effective public health response,” spokesperson Emily Hilliard said in an emailed statement.

TEMPORARY WORKERS

Graham’s organization, Samaritan’s Purse, an evangelical Christian group that works in various disaster zones around the world, opened Ebola treatment centers in the Congolese town of Bunia and the village of Nyankunde at the epicenter of the outbreak in June.

The facilities have a combined capacity of about 100 beds and have treated more than 270 patients since opening, according to the organization. Graham said that about 80 U.S. citizens are deployed there.

“It will hurt us,” Graham said. “When I say hurt us, it will hurt the level of care that we will be able to provide.”

The mission deploys temporary healthcare workers who take time off from their regular jobs in the U.S. Graham said he fears that an additional three weeks away from their workplace could hinder the recruitment of volunteers. It would also increase costs for transferring them to a third country and quarantining there.

“It seems like we’re targeting our healthcare workers and treating them maybe a little bit like they are damaged goods,” Graham said. “And these are heroes. These are people that have put their life on the line to save the lives of other people. And these are now experienced Ebola fighters.”

POLICY REPLACES AIRPORT SCREENINGS

Dr. Daniel Jernigan, a former senior CDC official who led the agency’s response during the 2014 to 2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said on Tuesday that using a “do-not-board” policy to prevent U.S. citizens from returning home when they have little risk of Ebola infection is unprecedented.

Americans had been allowed to enter at select airports, where they were screened by officials on their travel history, temperature and symptoms.

No cases linked to the outbreak have been confirmed in the U.S., and the risk to the American public and travelers remains low, according to the CDC.

The restrictions also apply to some travelers from Uganda and South Sudan. Other travelers from those countries will continue to undergo airport screening. The CDC said exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian or law-enforcement reasons. REUTERS