--- title: All Travelers Coming to U.S. From Ebola-Hit Countries Will Be Monitored description: Travelers will be monitored for 21 days upon arrival in the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/3531643/ebola-monitoring/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-22T16:08:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:27.603Z article:section: Health og:title: All Travelers Coming to U.S. From Ebola-Hit Countries Will Be Monitored og:description: Travelers will be monitored for 21 days upon arrival in the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/3531643/ebola-monitoring/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3638d25082aaf6c4/6987623e428a9e7ecacc4afc/457062018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: New York's JFK Airport Begins Screening Passengers For Ebola Virus og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: All Travelers Coming to U.S. From Ebola-Hit Countries Will Be Monitored twitter:description: Travelers will be monitored for 21 days upon arrival in the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3638d25082aaf6c4/6987623e428a9e7ecacc4afc/457062018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # All Travelers Coming to U.S. From Ebola-Hit Countries Will Be Monitored > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=300e8787-99cc-4e1e-90e1-bcede9dba459&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Nigeria is an Ebola Success Story: Here's What The Country Did Right [Watch (HLS stream): Nigeria is an Ebola Success Story: Here's What The Country Did Right](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mSo7iFZ3.m3u8) (2:43)  _Published 2014-10-21. The World Health Organization declared Nigeria free of Ebola on Monday, a containment victory in an outbreak that has stymied other countries’ response efforts._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 22, 2014 4:08 PM UTC  People arrive at the international arrivals terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK ) airport on October 11, 2014 in New York City. People arrive at the international arrivals terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK ) airport on October 11, 2014 in New York City. Spencer Platt—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Oct 22, 2014 4:08 PM UTC All travelers entering the United States from Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone will now be actively monitored for Ebola-like symptoms by state and local health officials for 21 days upon landing in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Wednesday. Those three West African countries are the hardest-hit by a recent outbreak of the deadly disease, and about 150 people travel from them to the U.S. every day. CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden announced the new program as the U.S. began requiring travelers from those three countries to arrive in the country through one of five airports performing intensive screening procedures. The new monitoring program will start on Monday in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Georgia, the six states where most travelers from the three countries end their trips. When travelers from the three West African countries arrive in the U.S., they will be given an explanatory kit that includes a thermometer and will be asked to provide two email addresses, two telephone numbers, a home address and an address for the next 21 days. They will also need to provide the same information for a family member or friend. Travelers will be asked to report to a public health worker from a state or local health department daily, providing a temperature as well as well reporting any symptoms. They must also inform officials if they plan to travel, and if so, they must coordinate their tracking their symptoms with health officials. “We have to keep up our guard against Ebola,” said Frieden, adding that it’s the “CDC’s mission is to protect Americans.” ## Transcript Africa's most populous country, Nigeria, is free of Ebola after it went 42 straight days with no new cases reported. As the epidemic rages out of control in neighboring Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, how did Nigeria become an Ebola success story? [ MUSIC ] Declaring an emergency right away. When Nigeria had its first confirmed case of Ebola, the government declared a national public health emergency immediately. That means that strict procedures for treating patients and screening people were quickly put into place. For example, local health workers paid $ 18, 500 face to face visits to take the temperatures of nearly 900 people who had contact with Ebola patients. Training local doctors. The World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders trained local doctors on how to treat patients effectively. But the country posed a unique challenge as the number of people living in Lagos is around 21 million. That's almost as large as the populations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone combined. How can the disease be contained under such circumstances? The answer, high quality contact tracing by experienced epidemiologists. With the help of GPS systems and daily mapping, government officials reached 100 % of known contacts in Lagos and placed them in isolation wards. Managing Fear. Nigeria used social media and televised campaigns to reach its 174 million residents. To prevent panic, the country showcased patients who were successfully treated, and produced awareness campaigns on the disease. From national TV appearances by the president, to an online campaign starting Nigerian actors. No effort was spared to reassure the country's vast population. 0800 EBOLA HELP now. Keeping borders open. Nigeria made the decision of keeping it's frontiers open to travelers from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. Saying that closing the borders would only hurt commercial activities in the countries whose economies were already struggling due to Ebola. At the same time effective screening procedures checked incoming visitors. The average number of travelers screened each day reached more than 16, 000. Even though the outbreak was contained Nigeria is now slowing down its training and preparation procedures in case there are new cases. 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