2014
Amidst worldwide panic surrounding the recent increase in Ebola deaths, passengers traveling to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport from West Africa (where the current Ebola outbreak has its epicenter) will be inspected for signs of the illness, officials announced this week. The airport processes some half of those entering the U.S. from Sierra Leone, Libera, and Guinea. The Telegraph reports:
“If the traveler has a fever or other symptoms or has been exposed to Ebola, Customs and Border Protection will refer that traveler to the Centers for Disease Control for a public health assessment,” CBP chief Gil Kerlikowske told reporters at JFK airport, one of the busiest in the United States. He said passengers suspected of serious illness could be issued “Do Not Board” notifications.
The travel ban could be applied to “individuals considered infected with a highly contagious disease... and (who) should be prevented from traveling on international aircraft,” he said.
Although the health checks provide an enhanced layer of protection, the CDC cautioned that screenings are not airtight.
1907
Along with mass immigration in the late ninteenth and early twentieth centuries came new fears regarding infectious diseases. Particularly of concern to urban-dwelling Americans was trachoma, a bacterial eye infection that, if left untreated, could lead to blindness. Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island for the first time were subjected to a medical inspection during which doctors would pay special attention to the eyes. A Washington Post story about immigrant processing recounted one woman’s failing of the exam:
Presently a woman comes along, of decent appearance, evidently from some English country town. She has passed the first two doctors and is in line for the third. He looks at her, examines her eyelids, wipes his fingers, and just as she is about to pass along seizes a piece of chalk and marks “vision” in great starring letters down the front of her dress. An attendant comes up, catches her by the arm, and motions her toward the detention room. She resists, calling after the friend who has preceded her to freedom.
“Let me go,” she cries. “My sister is waiting for me.”
There is no time for explanation: she is holding up the line. She bursts into tears and is half dragged, half carried away.