U.S. soldiers back from Liberia quarantined in Italy

NEW YORK – The Italian press reported widely that approximately 11 U.S. troops returning from Africa were placed in Ebola quarantine in Italy on Monday, including Army Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the commander of the U.S. Army Africa forces – and up to 30 more are expected to arrive soon, bringing the total number of quarantined troops to 41.

It was unclear whether or not the move represented a reversal of Pentagon policy regarding medical quarantine for U.S. military returning from Africa.

Only last Friday, Maj. Gen. James M. Lariviere, deputy director of political-military affairs for Africa, testified to the House Oversight Committee that there was only one airplane available to transport Ebola patients out of Africa, with a maximum capacity of 10 soldiers a week.

“There will be a military hospital created in Liberia and a second in Sierra Leone, so any U.S. soldier that contracts Ebola in Africa will first be treated in-country and then flown back to the United States for treatment,” Lariviere explained.

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Lariviere said U.S. troops could return to the U.S. after a 10-day waiting period of showing no signs of having contracted the disease.

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Lariviere further explained that once back on base in the U.S., the soldiers would be required for 21 days to report to a base medical facility to have a doctor take their temperatures and to "look them in the eye" to examine them.

In a House hearing Friday, however, Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., took issue with the policy.

"Instead of a 21-day checking period in the United States to determine whether a soldier is Ebola-free, the waiting period ought to be 21 days in Africa, before a soldier is given permission to return to the United States," he said. "We need a fact-based approach to the Ebola problem in Africa, not just happy talk."

In Italy, La Republica in Rome and La Stampa in Turin reported that John R. Phillips, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, confirmed the 11 U.S. soldiers returning from Liberia currently being held in quarantine at Camp Ederle, a U.S. military base near Vicenza, Italy, would soon be followed Monday by another 30.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported in Milan that Vicenza Mayor Achille Variati told the press the U.S. military prefect in Vicenza had assured the local government that all of the military returning from Liberia are healthy and none are considered to be at risk for developing Ebola.

The Corriere della Sera further reported that on their arrival at a U.S. military airport in Vicenza, the 11 placed in quarantine were met by a guard of Carabinieri, Italy’s federal military police force, and a group of Italian workers dressed in full-body bio-hazard protective suits.

Gen. Williams, upon arriving in Italy, assured the Italian press the U.S troops arriving in Vicenza were all healthy, and the “probability that any one of them might have Ebola is virtually zero.”

The Italian press reported the U.S. soldiers returning from Africa will be placed in 21-day quarantine at a separate military facility on the U.S. military base. The facility is specially designed for controlled health monitoring under the care of U.S. military doctors and supervised by U.S. military heath-care personnel.

Williams and the U.S. troops arriving in Italy have been in West Africa for the past 30 days, traveling extensively around Liberia to set up the initial U.S. military assistance base in country.

The Corriere della Sera reported U.S. soldiers landing in Italy on their way home from Liberia were subject to an unnamed international security agreement signed by Italy that provides for soldiers and workers returning from countries experiencing a disease epidemic to be placed in 21-days isolation after landing in Italy and being screened by Italian authorities.

The Milan newspaper explained the international protocol places the U.S. soldiers under the authority of the Italian government Office of Maritime Health Air and Border, USMAF, in the Italian Ministry of Health.

The Corriere della Sera noted the "procedure, among other things, provides that if a single soldier aboard the U.S. military aircraft arriving from Liberia says they were in contact with Ebola, then all the passengers in the airplane must automatically be placed in quarantine, presumably even including the aircraft pilots and crew."

The paper noted the Pentagon is considering the possibility of placing in quarantine all the U.S. troops returning through Italy from any African countries affected by the epidemic.