Ebola: Obama will increase airport screenings, won't ban West Africa flights

Ebola: Obama will increase airport screenings, won't ban West Africa flights
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

On Monday, President Obama said that the U.S. is looking at better ways to screen passengers traveling to the U.S. from Ebola-infected countries in West Africa. A travel ban of flights originating in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea is not being considered, despite calls from some lawmakers. "In recent months we've had thousands of travelers arriving here from West Africa," Obama told reporters, "and so far only one case of Ebola has been diagnosed in the United States, and that's the patient in Dallas."

Neither the World Health Organization nor the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised travel restrictions from afflicted nations.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.