West African Passengers To Be Screened For Fever At O'Hare
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Passengers arriving from West Africa will be screened for signs of a fever, CBS has confirmed.
O'Hare International Airport is one of five airports that will be required to do the screenings.
The screens will start at the New York airports, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark International Airport, this weekend.
The other airports that will do the screenings are Dulles International outside Washington, D.C., and Atlanta.
According to the White House, about 150 passengers arrive at these airports from West Africa each day.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he's talking with federal officials about the plan for screenings for passengers entering the U.S. from West Africa.
"There's going to be enhanced screenings. They're going to start them at five airports. Chicago, O'Hare is one of those," he said. "We're going to work at every level—both at Aviation and our Public Heatlh [departments] – to ensure we have the safety and security in place to ensure both our public health and our public safety."
WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Chicago Ald. Ed Burke (14th) and Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd) are proposing an even stricter standard for both O'Hare and Midway International Airport.
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They have proposed an ordinance that would require screenings of all international passengers at O'Hare and Midway for symptoms common with illnesses such as Ebola, Avian influenza or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Under Burke's proposal, the screenings would involve a passenger questionnaire and a temperature reading.
The airlines would pay for the cost of the screenings.
Emanuel said he would not consider that measure before carrying out the federal mandate for O'Hare.
Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission. It is often fatal
First symptoms are the sudden onset of fever fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
