Why aren't we doing this? Colombia bans entry to those from Ebola affected countries

Two countries have started barring entry to people coming from the nations in West Africa that have been hardest hit by the current Ebola outbreak.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Kenny Anthony, the prime minister of St. Lucia-a small island nation in the Caribbean-ordered on October 15 that people coming from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will not be allowed into the county.

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Colombia has also placed travel restrictions on these three countries and Nigeria and Senegal which had minor Ebola outbreaks but are nearing containment according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Anthony said that St. Lucia, as a small and economically poor nations, lacks the capability "to manage any crisis that lands on our doorstep, any crisis of that kind."

He reported that any outbreak of Ebola would devastate the country of 200,000 people, especially as tourism makes up 60% of the country's GDP. Those coming from Nigeria will require a certificate of health before being allowed to enter.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement about the travel restrictions, and said it had taken the step at the recommendation of Colombia's National Institute of Health.

Haiti is also taking some steps to protect itself. The Prime Minister tweeted that the U.N. peacekeeping force in the country will suspend rotation of troops from African countries, as a preventative measure.

It can take 21 days, or even more in some very rare cases, for a person infected with Ebola to show symptoms that an airport screening test can discover. During the incubation period, a person can get into a nation without showing symptoms, and later fall ill, as did a Liberian man who made it into the U.S. and later died.

Those infected with Ebola are not contagious until they begin to exhibit symptoms of the disease. These include fever, body aches or stomach pain. Ebola can be transmitted between people via contact with infected blood or bodily fluids.

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