Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
US Cannot Open Ebola Quarantine Quarters In Kenya Just Yet, African Court Rules
Bloomberg: US Plan For Kenya Ebola Quarantine Facility Obstructed By Court
A Kenyan high court has temporarily blocked the government from approving a deal with the US to establish an Ebola quarantine facility in the East African nation. It also stopped Kenyan authorities “from admitting into, transferring to, receiving within, or facilitating the entry into Kenya of persons exposed to or infected with Ebola,” pursuant to the arrangement with the US, judge Patricia Nyaundi said. Parties will make oral arguments before the judge in the case on June 2, according to the order. (Herbling, 5/29)
CNN: US Ebola Facility In Kenya Sparks Backlash At Home And Abroad
The plan to launch this week a health facility in Kenya for Americans who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus has received widespread criticism – from both Kenyan doctors and US officials working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Madowo, Kent and Princewill, 5/28)
However —
NBC News: Americans Who Get Ebola Will Go To Europe For Treatment, Not U.S., Officials Say
If more Americans contract Ebola and need advanced medical care, they will be sent to Europe rather than brought to the U.S., senior administration officials said Thursday. The announcement is the latest in a series of moves Trump administration officials have made to keep Americans exposed to or infected with Ebola out of the country amid the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Already, the U.S. has set up a facility in Kenya for any Americans exposed. It is set to open Friday with 50 quarantine beds. (Miller, 5/28)
More on the spread of Ebola —
Stat: Trump Ebola Travel Restrictions May Impede Doctors Who Want To Help
When Craig Spencer contracted Ebola while working in Guinea during the West African outbreak in 2014, he was already back in the United States when he first developed symptoms. He credits the treatment he got at New York’s Bellevue Hospital for his survival. If Spencer, an emergency medicine physician and an associate professor in Brown University’s School of Public Health, were to contract Ebola in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda — if he’d even had high-risk exposures to Ebola patients — he wouldn’t be allowed back into the U.S. for care or quarantine. (Branswell, 5/28)
The Hill: US, Mexico, Canada Coordinate Ebola Travel Measures Ahead Of FIFA World Cup
The U.S., Mexico and Canada — the three countries hosting this year’s FIFA World Cup beginning in June — announced public health travel measures for people coming from parts of Africa that are at greatest risk from Ebola. “This coordinated approach aims to protect our citizens and the millions of visitors, fans, athletes, and tourists expected during the FIFA World Cup 2026, while maintaining travel and commerce across our borders,” the nations said in a joint statement Thursday. “The health and safety of every person in the region remains our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America.” (Swai, 5/28)
Bloomberg: Congo Defends Ebola Response As WHO Warns Tracing Is Failing Amid Insecurity
Congo’s health minister pushed back against claims the country’s Ebola outbreak was spiraling out of control, even as World Health Organization officials warned insecurity and population displacement were preventing responders from tracing most suspected contacts. “I’ve heard in the press that the epidemic is ‘out of control,’” Roger Kamba, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Public Health, Hygiene, and Social Welfare, told reporters Thursday in Bunia, the outbreak’s epicenter. “We need to put into perspective the alarmist cries.” (Kavanagh and Gale, 5/29)
Bloomberg: WHO Advisers Recommend Limiting Experimental Ebola Drugs To Clinical Trials
Drugs in development to treat and prevent infections caused by the Ebola virus that’s circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda should be given only as part of clinical trials, advisers to the World Health Organization said. That means people who are sick now, or are at risk of becoming sick after being exposed to them, may not get access. It has been extraordinarily difficult to develop Ebola drugs, given that the outbreaks emerge sporadically, often in remote areas, and kill patients so quickly. (Fay Cortez and Smith, 5/28)
