Rep. Yoho Introduces Ebola Quarantine Bill

Press Release

Following a full committee hearing on combating Ebola in West Africa and what the international response should be, Congressman Yoho introduced his bill to answer this question. Congressman Yoho's bill requires "the President to take action to protect against the transmission of Ebola virus from individuals traveling to the United States from abroad, and for other purposes."

The bill also instructs the President, acting through the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to prohibit any individual from entering the United States for a period of 30 days, following the individual's presence in a country experiencing an Ebola epidemic.

Congressman Yoho gave the following statement.

"It was tough to watch the news about Ebola last month and not be able to introduce this bill due to Congress not being session at the time. It is clear that the President should have acted sooner in addressing this epidemic and protect our boarders to travelers from those infected West African countries. A quarantine needed to be applied immediately to any and all individuals traveling from those countries fighting this disease.

"My bill will not prevent travel but will insure people entering the US will be disease free by implementing a pre-travel quarantine. This quarantine will consist of diagnostic and temperature testing of individuals in addition to a 21-day monitoring period. This is in line with our military's protocol. 
If the military deems it necessary to quarantine our soldiers who have been in West Africa but have not interacted directly with infected patients, then it is only right to apply that same approach to individuals traveling from those countries as well.

"If the President would have taken action early on and followed the lead of our military, I wouldn't have had to draft this bill addressing the issue and his inaction. There is talk of this disease being hard to spread outside direct contact with bodily fluid, but it seems to be infecting people that are following "proper' protocols pretty easily. I owe it to my constituents - and all Americans - to do all I can to protect their health and safety."

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