U.S. to Send Ebola Patients to Europe for Care

Senior administration officials announced that if more Americans contract Ebola and require advanced medical care, they will be sent to Europe instead of being brought to the U.S. This is part of a series of measures by the Trump administration to keep Ebola-exposed or infected Americans out of the country due to the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A new facility in Kenya has been established for Americans exposed to Ebola. It opened on Friday, equipped with 50 quarantine beds. Plans are in place to expand the facility to include isolation and biocontainment units for those who test positive. However, these individuals will not remain in Kenya nor return to the U.S. They will be transported to European countries yet to be identified, according to officials.

A senior administration official stated that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is collaborating with the Department of State to determine the locations of these European facilities. Officials emphasized that shorter flight times to Europe are a key factor in the decision to send Ebola patients there. The only known American who tested positive, a surgeon working in a Congo hospital, was flown to Germany for treatment.

At a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that the U.S. will not allow any Ebola cases to enter the country. The CDC has consequently blocked entry for noncitizens who were in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the past 21 days.

Another official stressed the importance of providing the best care for American citizens, noting that U.S. doctors are present at the Kenya facility and the German hospital where the doctor is being treated. The quarantine camp in Kenya is at Laikipia Air Base and has received ‘forward approval’. U.S. Public Health Service members, including some who worked during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Liberia, will staff the facility.

The World Health Organization reports that the outbreak in the Congo, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has resulted in 1,077 cases and 246 deaths. No vaccine or treatment exists for this strain. Last week, seven Americans exposed to Ebola were flown to Europe, including the doctor hospitalized in Germany, whose wife and children are quarantined there. Another doctor is in quarantine in the Czech Republic.

Officials indicated there are no known additional Americans exposed to the virus who require transport to Kenya.