An American citizen has tested positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United States has no articulated plan — or apparent screening protocol — to prevent the virus from reaching U.S. soil when that person comes home.
The CDC confirmed the case Friday and immediately reassured the public that the risk is "very low." But the same agency cannot say what happens next. The last American who contracted Ebola during this outbreak was treated in Germany, recovered, and returned to the United States. This time, the administration has no stated quarantine plan, the previous plan collapsed after a foreign court blocked it, and the southern border remains wide open.
Details on the current patient are scarce. The CDC said only that the American, a humanitarian worker, contracted the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola — a lesser-known variant with no targeted vaccine or treatment, according to the New York Times. The agency said it is working with the patient's employer and Congolese partners to identify contacts. No other details — including the patient's condition or location — have been released.
The DRC outbreak has killed more than 600 people out of nearly 1,800 confirmed cases and has spread to Uganda, where the WHO reports 20 confirmed cases including two deaths. Last month, the first case outside Africa was confirmed in France — another humanitarian worker who returned home from a mission in the DRC.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared in May that no Ebola patients would be allowed to enter the United States, the Times reported. He later appeared to soften that stance. Administration officials then proposed sending exposed Americans to a quarantine facility in Kenya. Hundreds of Kenyans protested; a Kenyan court blocked the plan. Since then, the administration has not articulated a clear plan for caring for Americans abroad who have been exposed to the virus.
The previous American case offers a preview. Dr. Peter Stafford, a medical missionary, tested positive in May while treating patients in Congo. He was evacuated to Charité University Hospital in Berlin for treatment and returned to the United States after recovering, according to his employer, the charity Serge. His wife, Dr. Rebekah Stafford, told CNN the experience was overwhelming — and noted the grim reality that their Congolese friends would not receive the same level of care.
CNN framed its coverage heavily around the Stafford family's emotional ordeal. The Times noted that Trump administration aid cuts shuttered disease surveillance systems and medical supply chains that could have contained the outbreak sooner. Both outlets buried the question that matters most to ordinary Americans: what stops the next infected person — citizen or otherwise — from crossing into the United States without screening?
The CDC insists the risk is "very low." The same CDC that offered similar assurances during past public health failures. The same government that calls the border secure while millions cross without encounter.
An American has Ebola. The government has no plan for when they come home. And nobody in the press corps thinks to ask what happens at the border.
