Federal officials have announced the designation of Kennedy Airport as one of four key airports nationwide equipped to receive passengers who have recently spent time in central African nations, a strategic move aimed at combating an ongoing Ebola outbreak. This measure, effective Friday at the Queens transportation hub—which handles the most international passenger traffic in North America—will allow flights carrying individuals who have departed from or visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, or Uganda within 21 days of their arrival in the United States to disembark. This information comes from a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) news release.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) will deploy "public health resources" to the designated airports. These resources are intended to "implement enhanced public safety measures" as a "proactive measure to protect the safety of the American public in response to the ongoing Ebola disease outbreak," as stated by the CBP. To further prevent the entry of Ebola into the United States, the CDC is undertaking several public health initiatives. These include bolstering "public health screening and traveler monitoring for individuals arriving from the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan," alongside enhancing "port health protection response activities, contact tracing, laboratory testing capacity, and hospital readiness nationwide," according to the agency's website.

Earlier in the month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had already directed flights with passengers visiting these three nations to disembark at Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia. Soon after, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas were similarly designated. This network of specified entry points is designed to centralize and optimize the screening process.

The CDC has been actively addressing an Ebola outbreak occurring in "remote areas" of both the DRC and Uganda. Importantly, no cases of the disease associated with this particular outbreak have been reported within the United States. As of a recent Tuesday, the agency confirmed 121 cases and 17 deaths attributable to the illness in the DRC, where more than 1,000 suspected cases had been identified. On Wednesday, in response to the evolving situation, Uganda took the step of closing its border with the DRC. Concurrently, as of the same Tuesday, the CDC also confirmed 7 cases and one death stemming from the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.