The Trump administration is working with Kenya to set up a quarantine facility there for people believed to have been exposed to Ebola, an administration official told The Epoch Times via email on May 27.
“As part of a coordinated multi-national response to the worsening Ebola health emergency, the U.S. government is working with the Government of Kenya and other partners to plan for a facility for asymptomatic individuals suspected of exposure to the Ebola virus,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
An Ebola outbreak that African officials announced earlier in May has caused more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases. Most of the cases have been in Congo, with seven confirmed in Uganda, which lies between Kenya and Congo. No cases have been confirmed in Kenya.
The administration official and the Department of Defense declined to provide more details on the planned facility. The Department of Health and Human Services did not return a request for comment by time of publication.
Aden Duale, Kenya’s secretary of health, said in a statement on Wednesday that Kenya is engaged in ongoing discussions with the U.S. government and others “regarding international collaboration on strengthening preparedness and response mechanisms for Ebola.”
The statement did not specifically touch on any planned quarantine facilities, but said that “any arrangements regarding international health cooperation will be guided by Kenya’s national laws, public health regulations, biosafety and biosecurity standards.”
One American, identified as Dr. Peter Stafford, contracted Ebola earlier in May while caring for patients at a hospital in Congo. He, his wife, and their four children were transported to a hospital in Berlin for care.
Dr. Patrick LaRochelle, another American exposed to Ebola in Congo, was taken to a hospital in Prague.
Stafford has said he thought he might die before arriving in Germany.
Serge, the international Christian organization with which the doctors work, said on May 21 that Stafford was “receiving superb care” and on May 24 that LaRochelle remained asymptomatic.
Leif Erik Sander, director of the Berlin Charite hospital’s Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine, told reporters on Thursday that Stafford “has gradually stabilized” after receiving an unspecified antiviral therapy. He said Stafford’s wife and children have not shown any signs of Ebola infection.
U.S. officials have taken other steps to try to prevent the outbreak from reaching the United States, including warning Americans not to travel to Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan, and temporarily banning certain people, including those without U.S. passports, from entering the country if they have been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the past 21 days.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Cabinet meeting in Washington on May 27 that “we cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States.”
He said that federal agencies have surged personnel to central Africa, particularly Congo.
“And obviously, multiple agencies involved here are also very involved in tracking people just to make sure that nobody comes into this country that has Ebola and creates a problem for us, and we feel like we’ve got good efforts in place to do that,” he said. “And Americans should feel assured that the president and his administration is doing everything we can to protect them on that front.”