Future Ebola cases in the U.S. would be blamed on Europe, according to a new report.
As hordes of soccer fans descend on the U.S. for the World Cup, officials in Washington, D.C., are getting twitchy about the arrival of new diseases and are pressuring allies to adopt American policies.
Axios reports that officials in the White House are already concerned about the arrival of Ebola and say that Europe’s lax travel restrictions will be to blame for any new cases that pop up in the U.S.
The outlet cites a senior government official, who says the administration wants European governments to abandon World Health Organization guidelines for managing Ebola and instead adopt the stricter U.S. approach. In the first hours of his second term, Trump removed the U.S. from the organization, which declared the outbreak a global health emergency on May 17.
A State Department official told the news site: “European countries must do their part to ensure this outbreak does not spread further,” adding, “Action is required now.”
The U.S. has imposed several travel restrictions on countries around the world for various reasons, with about a quarter of the 48 countries playing in the tournament subject to some kind of restrictions.
Up to 7 million foreign fans are expected to arrive in the country, according to the State Department, to watch games throughout the six-week tournament.
The report claims that U.S. officials have now asked European leaders to impose travel bans on Central African countries, in an astonishing example of a foreign government telling sovereign nations how to manage their own borders.
European leaders, meanwhile, have rejected the demands, Axios reports, saying that other methods such as contact tracing and screening are more effective, and that no cases from the current outbreak have been detected.
The outlet notes that the government is now prepared to blame the WHO and Europe for failing to manage the outbreak robustly enough if cases arrive.
The same official claims that the WHO did not “immediately report” the outbreak and, by not encouraging “travel bans and border closures,” it “misled the world.”
They said the administration is also annoyed with European leaders for not instigating stringent screening measures for passengers arriving from parts of the world affected by the disease, and has demanded that they follow Canada and Mexico, which have adopted systems akin to those being deployed by the U.S., including restrictions on non-essential travel.
Even the DRC’s soccer team—which has not qualified for the tournament for more than 50 years—was made to isolate for 21 days before traveling to the U.S.
It comes against the backdrop of an outbreak of a strain of Ebola called Bundibugyo in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The World Health Organization reports that as of late May, there had been 534 confirmed cases, including 93 deaths in the DRC and Uganda.
Between then and Monday, there have been a further 390 confirmed cases of Bundibugyo, including 74 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
WHO officials have also said they acted as quickly as they could have.
The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department for comment.
