The Trump administration is preparing a quarantine facility in Kenya for Americans who have been exposed to Ebola amid the escalating outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an administration official said Wednesday.
The move is a departure from previous Ebola outbreaks, which often involved flying Americans exposed to the virus back to the U.S. for quarantine or treatment.
Lawrence Gostin, the director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law, said the decision to quarantine Americans in Kenya is “unprecedented.”
“It is likely to cost American lives,” Gostin wrote in an email. “We have an ethical duty to protect U.S. citizens, especially brave health and humanitarian workers who have cared for Ebola patients. It is impossible to give high quality care to Ebola patients in Kenya, compared with our state-of-the-art facilities in the U.S.”
During a White House Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration’s No. 1 priority is to protect the American people.
“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” Rubio said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported news of the Kenya quarantine facility.
The outbreak in Congo has rapidly worsened, with cases climbing to more than 1,000 and deaths topping 200, according to the World Health Organization.
The administration has already begun evacuating Americans from the region. Earlier this month, Dr. Peter Stafford, an American doctor who contracted Ebola in Congo, was flown to a hospital in Germany, while his wife and four children were sent to Germany and another doctor, Patrick LaRochelle, to the Czech Republic for monitoring. Stafford — who at one point was barely able to stand and developed symptoms including chills and fever — is optimistic he will recover, according to a statement released last week from Serge, the Christian missionary organization where he works.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also blocked U.S. entry for non-U.S. citizens who visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the past 21 days. While U.S. citizens are exempt, they’re being rerouted to specific airports for additional health screenings.
The Kenya facility, the administration official said, is intended to get Americans access to care faster and avoid lengthy medical evacuation flights, which can take more than 12 hours.
The official said the facility — developed through a coordinated effort involving the departments of State, Defense, and Health and Human Services — would be equipped to treat “the full spectrum” of Ebola, including patients who need intensive or critical care. Spokespeople for the agencies did not respond to requests for comment.
Patients who require more advanced treatment could still be transferred elsewhere on a case-by-case basis.
“Time is of the essence for Ebola patients, and this facility will enable Americans in the region who contract Ebola to receive lifesaving care as quickly as possible,” the official said.
It wasn’t immediately clear where in Kenya the facility would be built or whether Kenyan government officials had agreed to the plan.
There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain of Ebola that is driving the outbreak, called Bundibugyo. The strain has a mortality rate of around 25% to 40%. Experts say supportive care will be important for anyone who is infected with the virus.
