US to screen travelers from Ebola-stricken nations

WASHINGTON — The United States will begin screening passengers arriving at U.S. airports from West Africa for fever starting this weekend, U.S. officials said on Wednesday, in the hope of avoiding an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

The screening will start at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport this weekend, and be extended to four other airports: Newark Liberty in New Jersey, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta.

In the screening, authorities will use a non-invasive device to take the temperature of passengers and ask them to fill out a questionnaire created by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asking for detailed information about their activities in West Africa.

All passengers arriving at the relevant airports from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia will get extra “secondary” screening whether they arrive on a direct flight from those countries or whether they have connected in another country to a U.S. bound flight, a senior U.S. official familiar with the matter said.