MN health officials monitoring 48 travelers as Ebola precaution
Updated 5 p.m.
Minnesota health officials said Wednesday they are tracking 48 travelers from West Africa for signs of Ebola, a precautionary move taken as part of the state's new monitoring system.
The travelers arrived in Minnesota from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The Minnesota Department of Health considers them low-risk because they did not have a known exposure to Ebola during their time in those countries.
Officials are also working to contact another 12 travelers to begin monitoring.
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"The monitoring of these people does not indicate they have symptoms of Ebola. Rather, the program is designed to swiftly detect any potential symptoms should they develop," the department said in a statement Wednesday.
The monitoring program unveiled two weeks ago calls for people arriving in Minnesota from the three Ebola-affected countries in West Africa to be monitored by state and local public health workers for 21 days for fever or other symptoms of possible Ebola infection.
• October: Minnesota readies Ebola monitoring for travelers from W. Africa
The incubation period of Ebola runs up to 21 days. "A person who does not develop symptoms within 21 days of potential exposure would not present a further risk," the department said.
If a traveler develops symptoms consistent with Ebola infection, health officials will help get the person evaluated and tested. "If the results were positive for Ebola, the patient would be isolated and begin treatment," the department said.
The state effort is labor-intensive work, SAID Kris Ehresmann, the health department's infectious disease director.
"We do the phone calling, we try emailing, we physically go to the location," she said. "We've met with property managers, we've scanned license plates in the parking lot. We've done all manner of attempts to reach people."
The department has added nine full-time staff members to contact travelers and follow up with them for the 21-day Ebola incubation period.
Those additional workers will likely be needed for at least a year, Ehresmann added.