Ebola screening to start at Canadian airports

(Updated)

We’re learning a little more tonight about the changes coming to airports in North America.

This as governments on both sides of the border try to prevent the spread of Ebola.

New screening measures will now take place at airports in six Canadian cities: Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Also in the U.S., mostly along the east coast, in New York, Newark, Washington, Hartsfield and Chicago.

Pearson airport is among six across the country where passengers are now being screened for possible Ebola symptoms.

The plan involves taking the temperature of airline passengers arriving from West Africa and seeing how they’re feeling.

Soon, quarantine officers will be in place at the six major Canadian airports including Pearson. If they identify someone as at risk, they will be required to check their temperature. They’ll have a laser thermometer similar to this one. They won’t have to touch the person — just hold it close to their forehead to get a reading of their body temperature. But these new screening procedures have raised some questions of whether they are effective. Especially since the man who recently died from Ebola in the U.S. didn’t have a fever when he arrived there.

So if you’re travelling from an international destination to Toronto Pearson airport, get ready for the possibility you’ll be screened for Ebola.

Officials will question travellers and even take their temperatures.

“Realistically, it doesn’t sound like it’s really a huge threat in this part of the world right now. But I think people are nervous and I think people travel all over the world. So if that’s what they feel like they need to do I think the public would understand.”

But there’s some concern this screening won’t work because the Ebola patient in Texas who recently died didn’t have a fever when he landed in the U.S.

Also, people will have to admit to being sick — something travellers to Canada are required to do under the quarantine act. But not everyone does.

“Have you ever been on a plane with a cold? I have and I didn’t tell anybody.”

“I think the average person probably would maybe not disclose all especially if they feel they are not at risk.”

“I don’t think everyone would be necessarily honest. If they were starting to get sick they would want to get home.”

These new screening measures start Saturday in the U.S. and require all passengers travelling from Ebola hot spots to have their temperatures checked with a laser thermometer and they’ll have to fill out a questionnaire upon landing.