The White House outlined new Ebola screening measures at five major U.S. airports on Wednesday, saying officials would take the temperatures of passengers traveling from West Africa to prevent more individuals from entering the country with the deadly virus.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the heightened screening would begin soon at Washington Dulles International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and Newark Liberty International Airport.
Earnest said those airports are responsible for “94 percent of individuals who travel to the U.S. from the three countries currently affected by Ebola right now.”
Though the White House has “a lot of confidence” in current screening techniques, Earnest said the extra scrutiny would “enhance security” at some of the nation’s busiest ports of entry.
The announcement came just hours after Texas health officials confirmed the death of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States.
The additional screening techniques, however, are unlikely to appease Republicans calling for a complete travel ban from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak.
Under the new guidance, people traveling to the U.S. from those three countries also will complete questionnaires detailing their possible contact with the disease.
Health officials currently are monitoring those who came in contact with Duncan but say none of those individuals have exhibited symptoms of Ebola. It can take up to three weeks, though, for such symptoms to show.
