Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered state officials Monday to come up with rules governing how some state residents can travel to Ebola-stricken countries, stepping in to fill what he said was a gap left by President Obama’s failure to act.
Mr. Jindal, a Republican who presidential aspirations in 2016, ordered his departments and agencies to come up with plans to require state workers and academics and students at state colleges to have to disclose their travels to Ebola-affected countries.
He also directed agencies to put a system in place to monitor travelers for up to three weeks after a traveler goes through one of the countries.
“The federal government, to date, has failed to implement protections at the national level to prevent the entry of the Ebola Virus Disease into the United States of America,” Mr. Jindal wrote in the executive order.
A number of lawmakers, both in the states and on Capitol Hill, have urged Mr. Obama to stop issuing visas to citizens from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three countries seeing the worst of the outbreak. Others have called for a full-blown travel ban.
Mr. Obama, however, has rejected those calls, saying his health officials have told him travel restrictions could actually hurt. Those officials say if the U.S. bans entry, infected travelers will just try to sneak into the U.S. avoiding the temperature-taking procedures put in place at five airports.
The Ebola outbreak in the U.S. stemmed from a Liberian man who traveled to the U.S. on an airplane before he showed symptoms, and therefore likely before he was contagious.
He developed symptoms while in Dallas and was hospitalized, where two of the staff that cared for him have also tested positive for the disease. The Liberian man died, while the two health workers have been transferred to hospitals better able to provide care.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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