US health officials quarantined 14 American citizens at a New York military base for four days after a recent return from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola outbreak is underway, according to records seen by Reuters and two people familiar with the situation.
The travellers, who were returning via Canada, were not symptomatic for Ebola and were deemed not to be at risk of transmitting the disease, the people said. There is no US order in place preventing citizens returning via land, although a "do-not-board" order issued this month requires US citizens in DR Congo to quarantine for at least 21 days before they can return via a commercial flight.
Two Defense Department notifications stated that the travellers could not return directly to the US from DR Congo as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to keep out individuals it deems at risk of Ebola, according to a copy of one of the memos and one of the people who reviewed the other.
The incident highlights the unprecedented and uneven policies being implemented by authorities who have vowed to prevent Ebola from reaching the US. Those policies have caused concern among public health and legal experts who say it is not legal to deny US citizens entry into the country, even if they were exposed to or infected with a disease like Ebola.
Ebola facility in Kenya
There have been nearly 2,500 confirmed cases of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in DR Congo, the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record, government data showed on Wednesday.
The Trump administration has built a new isolation facility in Kenya and last week seven American aid workers were quarantined there. A Kenyan court had ordered a halt to the construction of the Ebola facility. The US has also sent two Americans to Germany for Ebola treatment, saying it was closer than the US.
According to sources who spoke to Reuters, the recently quarantined travellers in the US included recently naturalised American citizens who were visiting family in DR Congo.
In a separate letter, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote to Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican and chair of the Armed Services Committee, that the quarantine in New York "will not negatively affect military training, operations, readiness, or other military requirements, including National Guard and Reserve readiness."
