Port Of LA To Step Up Efforts To Ward Off Potential Ebola Cases
LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com/AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard has stepped up enforcement at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to prevent the Ebola virus from making entry into Southern California.
KNX 1070's Megan Goldsby reports federal law already requires foreign-flagged vessels to immediately report illnesses to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including the Coast Guard.
Port Of LA To Step Up Measures To Ward Off Potential Ebola Cases
If an illness is reported, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is immediately notified, according to Port of Los Angeles spokeswoman Rachel Campbell. A vessel may be quarantined from entering the port complex until cleared by officials including CDC, Campbell said.
"We are currently unaware of any immediate health or safety threats with respect to vessels entering the San Pedro Bay complex," Campbell said in a statement. "There are measures in place to ensure the safe and secure arrival of vessels, passengers and crew to the port."
Additionally, Coast Guard Petty Officer Adam Eggers said if any type of illness was reported during a ship-to-shore conversation, DHS and CDC security personnel would be waiting at the port when it arrived.
"What were their last ports that they came from, was there any known issues with those ports-of-call, crew safety, crew sickness, crew health" are just some of the factors that officials are keeping an eye out for, according to Eggers.
The new effort was announced on the heels of plans by federal officials to begin taking the temperatures of travelers from West Africa arriving at five U.S. airports as part of a stepped-up response to the Ebola epidemic.
A federal official said Wednesday the screening will begin Saturday at New York's JFK Airport. Screenings will start next week at Newark, Dulles, Chicago and Atlanta. The official was not authorized to describe the change by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
President Barack Obama describes says new screening measures at key international airports are "just belt-and-suspenders" to add a layer of protection to measures already employed.
He says the new measures will include more screening questions for passengers arriving from the countries worst hit by the outbreak -- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. He says the procedures will allow United States officials to isolate, evaluate and monitor travelers and collect any information about their contacts.
Separately, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Customs and Border Protection agents are handing out information sheets to travelers with details of what symptoms to look for and directions to call doctors if they become sick within 21 days - the incubation period for Ebola.
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