Australia just banned travel to West Africa to stop Ebola
http://twitter.com/#!/CBSMMiller/status/527040453074771968
Did the first domino just fall in the debate over whether or not countries should impose full travel bans to countries in West Africa affected by the Ebola outbreak? Maybe so:
But the science!
Heh. A “whole continent.” But science or not, Australia’s move is pretty popular with U.S. tweeters. Some examples:
And Australia is not just limiting visas. It’s issuing a mandatory quarantine as well. CNN:
Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced “strong controls” on arrivals from West African countries affected by cases of the deadly disease.
Telling Australia’s parliament during a question time session Monday that his ministry was currently “not processing any application from these (Ebola) affected countries,” he said that the government was also suspending its humanitarian program.
He added that holders of permanent Australian visas based in these countries would be subject to a mandatory, three-week quarantine process prior to their departure. Visitors approved to travel to Australia will also face further screening and followup checks upon arrival.
As for quarantine politics here in the United States, does this really make anyone feel safer?
And take a read at what the CDC is saying with its new quarantine protocol. From the WSJ:
The new guidelines, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend that people at high risk of developing Ebola voluntarily isolate themselves from others for 21 days. That is less stringent than recent guidelines from New York and New Jersey, which imposed mandatory quarantines on such people and stoked tensions with the White House.
Let’s end this with a provocative question for National Journal’s Ron Fournier: Does this mean the CDC is proposing voluntary internment camps?
Related:
Full Twitchy coverage of Ebola here.
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