theatlantic | The Washington Post's Todd Frankel described
having an infrared thermometer gun pointed at his head in the Freetown,
Sierra Leone airport, along with hundreds of other passengers. In some
countries, individuals whose temperatures seem high later undergo a blood test for the virus.
But these temperature checks aren't always effective. In the Dallas case,
the man left Liberia on September 19, had his temperature checked at
the airport, and arrived in America on September 20. He only developed
symptoms on the 24th, however, and he was isolated four days later.
Patients are only contagious when they're symptomatic, so there's no
risk the people on the flight with the man caught Ebola. There is,
however, a four-day window in which he might have infected others in the
U.S.
In July,
an Ebola-infected man flew from Liberia to Nigeria, even though airport
screenings were already in place, and he infected healthcare workers in
Lagos. And of course, fevers are usually caused by flu and other illnesses that aren't Ebola.
Twenty different ports of entry in the U.S. have been equipped with quarantine centers that are on the lookout for passengers with Ebola-like symptoms. “If
you’re a passenger on a plane and you say you’re sick, you will be met
when you land by the CDC,” agency spokesman David Daigle told The New York Post.
At arrival gates, border protection officers keep their eyes
peeled for passengers who show signs of fever, sweating, or vomiting.
They also try to confiscate any monkey meat or other bushmeat that passengers might have in their luggage.
