New Ebola screenings start at JFK airport: Quarantine rooms and hi-tech thermometers used on travelers from diseased West Africa - and four major U.S. airports will follow suit
JFK is the first airport to start new screening - Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare, Newark Liberty and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta will follow
Health workers are using contactless thermometers to screen passengers
Anybody from Liberia, Sierra Leone of Guinea with a fever will be interviewed
Facilities then exist to quarantine the passengers if necessary
New screenings: Public health workers are now using contactless thermometers like the one above to screen potential Ebola victims. Pictured is a test taking place in Casablance, Morocco - much closer to the outbreak
High-tech: This is how the advanced thermometers will work without putting public health workers at risk
Roll-out: The tests will only affect some 150 passengers per day from the worst-hit countries. Pictured above are queues at JFK
No airlines fly direct to the U.S. from the three countries. But Homeland Security can track passengers' routes even if they make several stops
Announcement: Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, explains the new screenings to be implemented at JFK and other airports
Quarantine: Authorities across the country have been making ready for Ebola. Pictured are staff at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, standing in an isolation room
Safety first: Staff at Laguardia airport put on protective gloves after being given classes on dealing with Ebola
John F Kennedy Airport has begun new screenings for West African passengers flying into New York from countries being ravaged by the Ebola virus.
As many as 150 travelers per day who arrive from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will now be stopped and checked with contactless thermometers in the hope of keeping the disease out of the United States.
Anybody who has a fever will be interviewed to see whether they have had contact with an Ebola sufferer, and from there can be quarantined if necessary.
New screenings: Public health workers are now using contactless thermometers like the one above to screen potential Ebola victims. Pictured is a test taking place in Casablance, Morocco - much closer to the outbreak
High-tech: This is how the advanced thermometers will work without putting public health workers at risk
Roll-out: The tests will only affect some 150 passengers per day from the worst-hit countries. Pictured above are queues at JFK
The new scheme, which began today, will be expanded over the next week to Newark Liberty airport in New Jersey, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport.
Between them the five airports carry around 95 per cent of passengers from the countries worst afflicted by Ebola.
No airlines fly direct to the U.S. from the three countries. But Homeland Security can track passengers' routes even if they make several stops
Announcement: Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, explains the new screenings to be implemented at JFK and other airports
Quarantine: Authorities across the country have been making ready for Ebola. Pictured are staff at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, standing in an isolation room
Safety first: Staff at Laguardia airport put on protective gloves after being given classes on dealing with Ebola
Airlines from Morocco, France and Belgium are still flying in and out of West Africa.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that the new screening measures are 'really just belt and suspenders' to support protections already in place.
Border Patrol agents already look for people who are obviously ill, as do flight crews. Passengers are also screened for the virus when they leave West Africa.
Public health workers are expecting some false alarms from travelers who have a high temperature from other illnesses.
Ebola isn't contagious until symptoms begin, and it spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of patients.
However, even these measures are not a foolproof block on the disease. The extra screening wouldn't have identified Thomas Eric Duncan when he arrived from Liberia last month - because he had no symptoms while traveling.
Duncan was the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S.. He died on Wednesday in Dallas, Texas.
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