Houston's George Bush Intercontinental completed the federal Ebola-routing map this week, becoming the third U.S. airport designated to receive covered arrivals after Washington Dulles and Atlanta. Houston Public Media reported that Bush Intercontinental joined the list for flights departing after 11:59 p.m. on May 26, giving airlines and families on the Gulf Coast a named arrival point instead of a rebooking scramble through Washington. [1] [3]
The buildout was fast and mechanical. A Homeland Security directive published May 21 directed all U.S.-bound flights carrying people who had been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the previous 21 days to land at Dulles beginning after 11:59 p.m. on May 20. Customs and Border Protection then added Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta for flights departing after 11:59 p.m. on Friday, May 22, and Bush Intercontinental four days later. Cargo-only flights and crew are excluded from the measures. [3] The CDC confirmed the Atlanta expansion in its own statement, framing the airport list as a way to concentrate public health resources rather than to seal the border. [5]
What happens at the gate follows a written sequence. Covered travelers are escorted to a designated area, asked about travel history and symptoms, and screened for fever. Those without symptoms receive illness guidance, continue to their destinations, and leave contact information that flows to state and local health departments for follow-up across the incubation window. Travelers with fever or symptoms believed consistent with exposure are taken to a hospital for isolation and testing. At least ten CDC staffers were dispatched to Dulles alone to run the process. [4]
Two legal instruments operate side by side, and conflating them confuses travelers. The routing requirement applies to everyone, including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, because it governs where flights may land. The CDC's Title 42 order is narrower and harsher: it suspends introduction of noncitizens present in the three countries during the prior 21 days, initially for 30 days, regardless of their country of origin. [2] A green-card holder gets screened at Dulles, Atlanta or Houston; a visa holder who transited Kampala last week may not board at all.
The system has already produced its first cautionary tale. An Air France flight bound for Detroit from Paris diverted to Montreal on May 20 after a Congolese passenger was found to have boarded in error; Canadian health authorities assessed the traveler, found no symptoms, and sent him back to Paris while the other passengers continued. [4] One misclicked itinerary at check-in produced an international diversion, which is the operational reality behind the paperwork. Airlines are now the front line of a public health rule, enforcing a 21-day geography test at the gate with rebooking costs attached.
The paper's same-day look at the seven questions Houston's designation raises covers local intake capacity. The national picture is simpler: mainstream coverage has now printed the airport names, but the searchable social web has produced no content-verified status text on how the screening actually runs, leaving rumor to fill the procedural gap. For a family booking a flight, the operative facts are unglamorous — three airports, one 21-day clock, and a possible follow-up call from a local health department weeks after landing. [3] [4]
-- NORA WHITFIELD, Chicago