NEW statement to CNN: “The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is deploying a team of highly trained officers to Kenya to support the care, monitoring, and quarantine of American citizens departing the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of a coordinated interagency effort with the State Department and Department of War.
The deployed team includes physicians, nurses, laboratory technologists, mental health professionals, and engineers – including officers with previous Ebola response experience in Liberia during the 2014-2015 outbreak. Personnel have undergone specialized training in PPE, quarantine protocols, and treatment procedures related to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus.
Protecting responders and American citizens remains our top priority, and HHS is confident in the safeguards, clinical protocols, and operational planning supporting this mission.