Ebola screening urged for Minneapolis airport
Published 10:17 am Monday, October 13, 2014
ST. PAUL — Minnesota’s governor and U.S. senators are asking the federal government to screen passengers for Ebola when they arrive at the Minneapolis airport.
Gov. Mark Dayton and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken wrote to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asking that Minneapolis be added to the five international airports that began screening this past weekend.
Minneapolis-St. Paul is home to large numbers of immigrants from West Africa, the region hard-hit by Ebola.
The airport has no direct flights arriving from Africa. But Dayton, Klobuchar and Franken want screening for travelers whose flights originated in Liberia, Guinea or Sierra Leone. The screening would include a health declaration, information on where the traveler is staying and a visual exam by a medical professional.