S
ServantStrike
Guest
I thought this might be useful to some here who have expressed concerns over there not being a restriction on flights from West Africa. This is a quick run down on the current efforts to curtail the spread of infection to foreign countries.
First some background though - there are travel restrictions, but they are entirely self imposed by affected nations and airlines. Several of these nations have imposed travel restrictions - but not all of them have. And of course the airlines in that region (and the ones who make connecting flights but do not fly directly there) are not going to do so as it means lost revenue. Some of these nations have already discussed opening up flights again as well, so these restrictions are short lived.
Here's an article from last month discussing the screening process here.
The screening process relies on the argument that Ebola is only communicable when a patient is symptomatic, so as long as a passenger is asymptomatic, then they do not pose an infection risk to other passengers on board the plane.
To this end, since fever is one of the common first symptoms of Ebola, some airlines have started screening passengers by using an infrared thermometer gun to check for an elevated temperature. This is a flawed method as the thermometer is not very accurate, and the incubation period for ebola is 2 days, with as much as 20 days before symptoms appear.
The reader can draw whatever conclusions they want to, but it's clear that this method of screening is not bullet proof. In addition to there already being a patient zero in the US, it's entirely possible for an asymptomatic individual to board an airplane only to experience onset of symptoms after entering the country. This is exactly what happened, and in fact this individual was initially refused care at a hospital once he was aware he was sick.
First some background though - there are travel restrictions, but they are entirely self imposed by affected nations and airlines. Several of these nations have imposed travel restrictions - but not all of them have. And of course the airlines in that region (and the ones who make connecting flights but do not fly directly there) are not going to do so as it means lost revenue. Some of these nations have already discussed opening up flights again as well, so these restrictions are short lived.
Here's an article from last month discussing the screening process here.
The screening process relies on the argument that Ebola is only communicable when a patient is symptomatic, so as long as a passenger is asymptomatic, then they do not pose an infection risk to other passengers on board the plane.
To this end, since fever is one of the common first symptoms of Ebola, some airlines have started screening passengers by using an infrared thermometer gun to check for an elevated temperature. This is a flawed method as the thermometer is not very accurate, and the incubation period for ebola is 2 days, with as much as 20 days before symptoms appear.
The reader can draw whatever conclusions they want to, but it's clear that this method of screening is not bullet proof. In addition to there already being a patient zero in the US, it's entirely possible for an asymptomatic individual to board an airplane only to experience onset of symptoms after entering the country. This is exactly what happened, and in fact this individual was initially refused care at a hospital once he was aware he was sick.
