In an escalating effort to prevent the entry of Ebola into its borders, US authorities have enacted a temporary ban on green-card holders who have visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan within the last 21 days. This order, issued on Friday, expands upon a previous travel restriction that only applied to individuals without US passports from these affected countries, exempting US citizens and lawful permanent residents. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) justified this expansion by stating that permitting the discretion to prohibit entry of certain lawful permanent residents is "reasonably required in the interest of public health."

The order elaborated that green-card holders may possess stronger ties to families and communities outside the US compared to US citizens, suggesting that prohibiting their entry is "comparatively less burdensome." Emphasizing the intensive nature of disease containment, the CDC highlighted that "Containing quarantinable communicable diseases on US soil is highly resource-intensive, requiring specialized and isolated facilities with limited capacity." As an example of such resource demands, the text notes that eighteen individuals are currently in a dedicated quarantine unit at the University of Nebraska, having been released from the hantavirus-plagued cruise ship MV Hondius. The CDC further explained that applying this authority to lawful permanent residents for a limited period balances public health protection with the management of emergency response resources. In line with these concerns, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the primary objective: "Our No 1 objective on Ebola … has to be we can’t have it affect the United States. We can’t have Ebola cases coming here."

To accommodate US citizens returning from the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan, the CDC announced an additional point of entry for enhanced Ebola screening: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport, complementing Washington’s Dulles airport. The initial ban on green-card holders from the affected African region is set for a duration of 30 days.

Internationally, the World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the risk of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola escalating into a national outbreak in the DRC to "very high," and has declared the outbreak in both the DRC and Uganda an emergency of international concern. So far, the WHO reports 82 confirmed cases in the DRC, along with seven confirmed deaths, 177 suspected deaths, and nearly 750 suspected cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.

The impact extends across the African continent, with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) identifying 10 African countries at risk from the Ebola virus. These countries include Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Zambia. This alarming situation is compounded by severe challenges on the ground in the eastern DRC, where residents of a town at the epicenter of the outbreak reportedly attacked and burned part of a health center designated for treating the virus, leading to 18 suspected infected individuals fleeing the facility.

Further illustrating the difficulties, another treatment center in Rwampara was torched after family members were denied the retrieval of a local man's body. The highly contagious nature of Ebola victims' bodies poses a significant risk for further spread during traditional burial preparations and funeral gatherings. To counter this, authorities in the north-eastern DRC have implemented a ban on funeral wakes and gatherings exceeding 50 people, an urgent measure aimed at curbing the virus's transmission.