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Murphy Responds to Homeland Security Airport Screenings

10/21/14

Murphy Responds to Homeland Security Airport Screenings

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Contact: Brad Grantz, 202.225.2301

(WASHINGTON, DC) — Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (PA-18) released the following statement today in reaction to the Administration’s announcement that all passengers on flights originating in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone will travel through five U.S. airports where enhanced screening measures are already in place.

“With no vaccine or cure, we are facing down a disease for which there is no room for error. While the Administration describes this announcement as new travel restrictions, they are nothing of the sort. The only ‘restriction’ is which airport a traveler from an Ebola hot zone may land at when they arrive in the United States,” said Murphy.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced earlier in the day that all passengers arriving in the United States whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will be required to fly into one of the five airports that have the enhanced screening and additional resources in place.

“The policies set forth to protect public health in the face of this deadly and still relatively unknown strain of Ebola must be reconciled with the fact that there is much we still don’t know, so protecting public health must be the highest priority. I am urging we start first from the strongest line of defense and work down, notbegin with the weakest line of public health protections and scramble our way up. To fully protect the American public, the Administration must advance concrete travel restrictions that include a quarantine coupled with an immediate ban on all non-essential commercial travel from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.”

Murphy closed out the Oversight hearing by detailing the lessons learned and information gathered during the intense three-hour hearing with medical experts from federal agencies. He then followed up with a letter to the President outlining nine key next steps the Administration must take to protect Americans from the Ebola virus, including among others an immediate ban on non-essential commercial travel from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone; 21-day quarantines for those Americans who have been exposed to Ebola or were visiting the West African hot spots; and identifying and designating specific medical centers equipped and trained to treat potential Ebola patients.

A number of Murphy’s recommendations have since been acted upon by the Administration: (1) upgrading training and standards for personal protective equipment used by healthcare workers; (2) new quarantine measures for medical professionals in Dallas treating Ebola victims; (3) additional attention to manufacturing of promising treatments; and (4) additional contact tracing and medical personnel resources for local hospitals and health authorities.

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