Officials fighting U.S. measles outbreaks threaten to use rare air travel ban
Health officials in five states have warned people believed to be infected with measles and planning to travel that they could prevent them from getting on planes.
All eight individuals agreed to cancel their flights after learning the officials could ask the federal government to place them on a Do Not Board List managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Martin Cetron, director of the agency’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, which tracks disease outbreaks.
“The deterrent effect is huge,” he said.
CDC officials said the agency had been contacted about the individuals by health officials in New York, California, Illinois, Texas and Washington.
The government’s travel ban authority often gets little discussion “because it is a politically charged and politically visible request,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health policy at Georgetown University.
Though less restrictive than isolation or quarantine, the public health measure “is seen as a government using its power over the people and the states, which is kind of toxic in America right now,” said Gostin. “There is nothing unethical or wrong about it. It’s just plain common sense that if you have an actively infectious individual, they should not get on an airplane.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/05/23/officials-fighting-us-measles-outbreaks-threaten-use-rare-air-travel-ban/?utm_term=.5ce6305408b3&wpisrc=al_news__alert-hse--alert-national&wpmk=1
