September 10, 2014
Ebola and travel restrictions to West Africa
Submitted by Kirk Schulz, April Mason and Jim Parker
Good morning, students.
Higher education has always encouraged travel and developing a worldly view. We continue to support travel but we want to place the safety of Kansas State University students, faculty and staff first as the Ebola outbreak continues in West Africa.
For this reason, Kansas State University will not approve, until further notice, any university-sponsored student, faculty or staff travel to the countries on the Centers for Disease Control level 3 travel alert list — Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In addition, requests for travel to countries with CDC level 2 travel alerts — Nigeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo — will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Travel requests should be made to the Office of International Programs by emailing Marcelo Sabates at sabates@k-state.edu and Marcellus Caldas at caldasma@k-state.edu to indicate places to be visited and whether planned travel will be in the context of a project that includes a risk management plan by a federal or international agency.
The nature of the outbreak has raised some concern for neighboring countries as well. For the safety of our K-State family, we also are requiring that anyone with interest in traveling to other countries in West Africa — Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Togo and Benin — notify the office of international programs immediately.
Lafene Health Center is available to help anyone who has been to Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past four weeks. Nurses are conducting brief screening interviews based on CDC recommendations to determine if individuals are at risk of contracting Ebola. The individual can be categorized as no risk, low risk or high risk. As of Tuesday, Sept. 9, Lafene has screened 16 individuals and all were classified as no risk. We strongly encourage any students, faculty or staff who have been in the mentioned countries to participate in the screening.
Our staff members are closely coordinating with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the CDC and other health agencies on this issue. Visit the Lafene Health Center website for complete guidelines.
Useful links:
- U.S. Department of State Ebola Fact Sheet for Travelers
- Advice for Colleges, Universities, and Students about Ebola in West Africa
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Travel Health Notices
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Advisory Infographic
Sincerely,
Kirk Schulz, president
April Mason, provost and senior vice president
Jim Parker, director of Lafene Health Center