The Army has begun isolating soldiers returning from the Ebola outbreak zone in West Africa, but so far the Pentagon has not imposed a new forcewide policy to quarantine all troops who participate in that mission.
About a dozen soldiers — including a two-star general — were sequestered Monday morning in a quarantine-like setting after leaving Liberia and arriving at the U.S. Army base in Vincenza, Italy. The special isolation will last for 21 days to ensure they are not infected with the Ebola virus.
“They are being checked regularly by medical professionals and they don’t have any interaction with other personnel,” Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday.
Warren did not call the soldiers’ setting a “quarantine” but acknowledged the soldiers are not permitted to leave.
He emphasized that this was a “Department of the Army decision” made “out of an abundance of caution,” and stressed that none of the soldiers show any symptoms of having contracted the Ebola virus.
The move exceeds existing Defense Department policy that does not currently require the quarantine of U.S. military personnel who show no symptoms of the virus. It’s unclear whether the Pentagon is preparing to change the policy for all service members returning from the mission in West Africa.
“The department continues to address the precise nature of the monitoring,” Warren said. “There has been no decision to implement this forcewide.”
About 700 U.S. troops are in West Africa, and that number is slated to rise to nearly 4,000 over the next several weeks. The mission in West Africa, known as Operation United Assistance, does not put U.S. troops in direct contact with any Ebola patients. Instead, the service members deployed there are providing logistical support and building hospital facilities for civilian health care workers.
Among the soldiers placed into isolation in Italy is Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, commander of U.S. Army Africa. A total of about 75 soldiers are due to arrive in Italy from Africa later this week and all of them will be placed in similar isolation.
The soldiers are restricted to a military facility at Caserma Del Din, where they will be monitored by health care officials and will have meals delivered to them. They will have access to TV, a gym and online communications and other morale, welfare and recreation services, according to one Army official.
The soldiers will be released from isolation 21 days after their arrival, the Army official said.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that the decision to quarantine these service members was made at the command level and was not a change to Defense Department policy.
He said if the Pentagon changes its policy, which calls for monitoring returning troops twice a day for symptoms but not isolating them, Secretary Chuck Hagel would make that announcement.
“DoD policy has not been settled or implemented yet. … It will be driven by operational factors,” Earnest said.
Questions about quarantines have grown controversial recently after an American doctor in New York was diagnosed with Ebola after returning home from treating patients in West Africa. The states of New York and New Jersey are calling for mandatory quarantines despite objections from the White House, which says the measure is not necessary.
Staff writer Patricia Kime contributed to this report.
