By Sarina Trangle
Flights from West African countries ravaged by Ebola have been restricted to five airports, including Kennedy, where personnel screen passengers for symptoms of the disease, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced.
The federal government moved to limit inbound flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to the John F. Kennedy International Airport as well as airports in Newark, Dulles, Va., Atlanta and Chicago, beginning Wednesday.
Johnson said Homeland Security previously required these five airports to institute secondary screening and protocols, including taking body temperatures, before admitting those traveling from Ebola-impacted areas into the country.
He said the five airports typically handle about 94 percent of air traffic from the three countries.
“We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days,” Johnson said in a statement.
— Sarina Trangle
