The state of Florida will now require mandatory health monitoring for travelers returning from Ebola-affected areas.
Governor Rick Scott signed an executive order mandating twice-daily 21-day health monitoring for those returning from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Those countries are designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as Ebola-affected areas.
"I want to be clear that we are taking this aggressive action at the state level out of an abundance of caution," Scott said. "Mandatory twice-daily health monitoring will help us obtain important information that will assist us in caring for the Floridians who are returning to our state and preventing any spread of this deadly disease," Scott said in a statement.
Scott’s order comes after New York and New Jersey imposed new quarantine rules for medical workers returning from Africa after a doctor in New York who treated Ebola patients in Guinea had tested positive for the virus.
The Florida executive order states that, if a traveler is determined to be at “high risk’ of contracting the disease,” the Florida Department of Health has the authority to put the person under mandatory quarantine.
