The Trump administration is establishing a quarantine and treatment center in Kenya to monitor and care for American citizens exposed to the Ebola outbreak in East Africa, rather than flying them back to the United States.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by CNN, the initiative by the Departments of Defense, State, and Health and Human Services (HHS) aims to provide medical care close to the source. Using a regional hub allows the administration to avoid multi-hour medical evacuations to domestic soil while reducing the risk of introducing the virus into American communities.
The World Health Organization recently declared the rare Bundibugyo Ebola strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency. Under the new plan, members of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps will deploy to staff the facility once diplomatic clearances with the Kenyan government are certified.
