CDC Will Monitor Travelers from West Africa for 21 Days

The CDC announced Wednesday morning that it would monitor travelers from west Africa for twenty-one days, the length of ebola’s incubation.

The announcement comes one day after the Department of Homeland Security imposed travel restrictions that would route travelers originating from west African countries through a limited number of airports for additional screening for ebola symptoms.

Ebola patients are only contagious when symptomatic. However, ebola has a twenty-one day incubation period, which means someone carrying the virus could pass through airport screens and only become symptomatic later.

An overwhelming majority of the American public supports the additional measures, though only one patient carrying ebola came to the U.S. before their implementation.

[h/t Associated Press]

[Image via screengrab]

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