US Defense officials announced over 80 US military troops from Ebola mission in West Africa are scheduled to return home Thursday afternoon. Though none of them are showing symptoms, the group will be placed in special quarantine in southeastern Virginia as a precaution against spreading the virus.
The US troops from the Ebola mission in West Africa will be quarantined in a special facility at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in southeastern Virginia for a 21-day mandatory monitoring. According to NBC News, officials said the returning military personnel will be housed in buildings located in a secluded area of the base and will have the suitable amenities.
As said by Pentagon Spokesperson Rear Adm. John Kirby, the US troops in the Ebola quarantine include 51 members of the Air Force; 27 from the Navy; 4 in the Marine Corps and 2 in the Army. The Washington Post reported Kirby also added the group will undergo medical screening twice a day. Though they will not be able to see their families personally, they will be allowed to communicate electronically.
"Troops will be able to communicate with family members via telephone and electronic means," Kirby said. "Access to controlled monitoring area will be limited to health care, support and facilities maintenance personnel."
According to the Defense Department, Langley-Eustis will be one of the several facilities in which US troops will be placed in controlled Ebola quarantine. Others are located at the Army's Smith Barracks in Baumholder, Germany; Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in Texas; Fort Bragg in North Carolina; Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington; and at the Army base in Vicenza, Italy.
On Oct. 29, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided that all US troops returning from Operation United Assistance, the Ebola mission, be placed into quarantine-like monitoring for 21 days, mentioning concerns from troops and their family members.
"This is also a policy that was discussed in great detail by the communities, by the families of our military men and women," Hagel said at the time. "And they very much wanted a safety valve on this."
Meanwhile, the US troops have spent the past month building 17 Ebola Treatment Units and a 25-hospital bed in Liberia, based on The Washington Times report. And currently, there are 2,200 American troops helping to build healthcare facilities in the West African nation.
The return of the Ebola-quarantined US troops came after the Pentagon announced Wednesday that it doesn't plan to send the full 4,000 forces to Liberia as originally said. Officials believed a force of about 3,000 will be sufficient enough to help fight Ebola in response to the world's worst outbreak ever.
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