U. updates travel restrictions to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea

University graduate students, faculty and staff are no longer allowed to travel to Sierra Leone, Liberia or Guinea unless they have permission from the dean of the faculty, vice president for human resources or dean of the Graduate School, Dean of the College Valerie Smith said in a Nov. 25 email. The email said that undergraduates are not allowed to participate in University-sponsored travel to countries for which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued level 3 travel warnings related to Ebola.

Students, faculty and staff returning from any of the three countries must act in compliance with the CDC and New Jersey Department of Health monitoring and quarantine guidelines and must contact University Health Services prior to returning to campus. The email calls for a 21-day quarantine for campus visitors returning from any of the three countries.

This email marks the most recent update to the University’s policy regarding travel to countries with Ebola outbreaks as well as the University’s first official travel restriction.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are three countries for which the CDC has issued level 3 warnings, meaning that all nonessential travel to these countries should be avoided.

The University posted an announcement on its website on Oct. 21 saying students and faculty should avoid unnecessary trips to regions affected by the Ebola outbreak and asked that those who had visited Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone contact University Health Services.

An email sent by Smith on Oct. 3 said that staff, faculty and students who had been in any of these countries within the previous 21 days should contact University Health Services.

University spokesperson Martin Mbugua explained that the University is constantly looking for changes in CDC guidelines for travel to countries with Ebola outbreaks. He noted that while there are no predetermined dates for updates, the University has been sharing all pertinent information with the University community since August.

“Any updates up to, and including, the latest message, are made as we continue to monitor the situation following CDC recommendations,” Mbugua said. “We seek to clarify any part of our guidelines. The goal is to protect all members of the University community and provide any new information whenever we have it.”

Other schools have had travel restrictions in place since October.

Cornell students, faculty and staff were prohibited as of Oct. 16 to travel for educational purposes to any country in West Africa that the CDC had issued travel warnings for, including Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Harvard released a similar travel policy on Oct. 17, requiring all affiliates of Harvard to seek approval of the University provost before any university-sponsored travel to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The policy also noted that these affiliates must undergo a mandatory medical screening upon return.

Yale announced on Oct. 21 that any travel to the three level 3 Ebola-warning countries was forbidden for undergraduates, and faculty and staff must gain approval from the provost’s office for such travel. The university said that even those allowed to make the trip must make travel arrangements under the auspices of recognized aid organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders or the International Medical Corps and called for a 21-day quarantine for students, faculty, staff or visitors who had been to one of the three countries.

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These new travel restrictions shortly followed the return of a Yale graduate student from Liberia. Although the student was admitted to the Yale-New Haven Hospital on Oct. 15 after displaying Ebola-like symptoms, the test results were negative.