REPORT: Trump Admin Plans To Send Americans With Ebola To Kenya For Quarantine, Treatment
The Trump administration is reportedly setting up an Ebola quarantine facility in central Kenya to house Americans exposed to the virus during a worsening outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Pentagon has roughly one week to stand up the field hospital, which will open with 50 beds and could grow to 250, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing a source familiar. The State Department, Health and Human Services and the War Department are jointly running the Laikipia County project, according to the Post, citing an anonymous official.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized that Ebola cases cannot enter the U.S. at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday. “We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States, and so we’re very — the State Department and other agencies represented here, the Centers of Disease Control, HHS, others — are working very, very hard to contain this crisis to the countries where it’s currently located, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Rubio said, according to the Post. (RELATED: Congo Crowd Sets Ebola Hospital Tents Ablaze At Epicenter Of Outbreak)
Kenya has not yet approved patient transport, the Post reported. In a statement, Kenya’s health ministry said the government was still in talks with the U.S. and other partners globally about coordinating on the Ebola response, Reuters reported.
The administration a 30-day entry ban on travelers from the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, signed by National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya. The ban, implemented May 18, applies to those individuals who had remained in those countries for “the last 21 days.” It is the first U.S. travel ban issued in response to an Ebola outbreak, according to STAT News.
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The order applies to any person who was recently in those nations, but the outlet noted the ban exempts U.S. citizens and Army members, among others the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) excludes.
The White House rejected reports it delayed the return of American doctor Peter Stafford, who caught Ebola in the Congo and was flown to Germany, The Hill reported. “President Trump has consistently taken great risks to ensure Americans exposed to deadly and contagious diseases are safely brought back home, from quickly evacuating diplomats from China at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic to more recently repatriating the Americans who were exposed to the recent Andes virus outbreak,” spokesperson Kush Desai told NewsNation.
The Daily Caller reached out to the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for comment but has not heard back as of publication.
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