WEST HAVEN – A family of six has been quarantined in West Haven after returning from a trip to West Africa, West Haven health director Maureen Lillis said Wednesday afternoon.
The West Haven mayor’s office says the family is not showing any signs of Ebola. The family returned to Connecticut on Saturday, Oct. 18. The quarantine is precautionary and will last for 21 days.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of. There is no Ebola in West Haven,” Mayor Ed O’Brien told Fox CT. Read the full interview below.
The family recently moved to West Haven from West Africa, according to Mayor O'Brien, and West Haven is providing the family with any needs such as food and medicine, and will have a police officer posted outside of their home 24 hours a day. The family is monitoring themselves and checking for symptoms twice daily and is reporting to D.P.H. by phone.
The T.S.A. flagged the family at J.F.K. airport because of their travel to West Africa. Officials have not said which country they were traveling from, other than it was one of the three countries deeply affected by Ebola. The T.S.A. contacted the state health department and then the West Haven health department.
Gov. Dannel Malloy signed an order declaring a public health emergency in the state back on Oct. 7. That order gave the Commissioner of the Department of Public Health the ability to effectively quarantine an individual or a group of individuals who may have been exposed to or infected with the Ebola virus.
9 people in total in the State are under 4 different state ordered quarantines. The people include the 6 members of the family in West Haven, two yale researchers who recently returned from Liberia, and one unknown person.
More on Ebola here.
Stay with Fox CT as this story develops.
