The Centers for Disease Control confirmed Tuesday that the first case of Ebola is in the United States. The person has been diagnosed at a Dallas, Texas hospital and is in intensive care.
The patient recently returned from Liberia, where 1,800 people have died from the virus.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen was recently in Liberia covering the Ebola crisis.
First diagnosed case of Ebola in the U.S. @CNN http://t.co/t918JCZOtW Here's the timeline prior to isolation: pic.twitter.com/3WU0GH8rKY
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) September 30, 2014
Common sense dictates that travel out of Ebola-stricken countries into the U.S. should be restricted until the Ebola crisis in Africa is over. Today, local governments in the U.S. can still use quarantine to restrict patients with certain diseases. Also, federal law through the Department of Homeland Security and the CDC prevents and restricts air travel in patients with active communicable diseases that pose serious public health threats.