Health experts, airlines and civil libertarians are demanding that the government reconsider proposed quarantine rules that would battle an avian flu pandemic by detaining sick airline and ship passengers.
The rules would require airlines and cruise ship operators to collect personal information from all passengers and report sick ones to the government. Critics say the plan is difficult, costly and in violation of passengers' rights.
“What they're proposing is nonsensical,” says Tara O'Toole, director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “The notion of trying to screen airline passengers is wrong. … People are going to be contagious without being symptomatic.”
A key — and controversial — provision would require that airlines ask passengers to give detailed contact information, the names of traveling companions and information about their travel plans. Airlines would have to store the information for at least 60 days and provide it to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within 12 hours if the government asked for it.
The CDC plan was prompted by concerns about the possibility of a flu pandemic that could sicken and kill millions of people. The government's goal would be to identify sick passengers so they don't further spread the disease.
“The federal government feels it has a responsibility to notify people who have been exposed to a communicable disease while traveling,” says Ram Koppaka, chief of the Quarantine and Border Health Services branch of the CDC.
The job of identifying which passengers are sick and should be held would fall to flight attendants, pilots and cruise ship crews, who would be told to watch for signs of fever, coughing and other symptoms. Passengers identified as sick could be held at the terminal for three days while their condition was evaluated.
Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union says the CDC should drop the proposal. He says it would give the government a “free pass” to detain people. “We couldn't do this to a criminal,” he says.
The airline industry also opposes the proposal, which by CDC estimates could cost the industry more than $100 million to create and maintain a huge database of passenger information.
Georgina Graham, the head of global security at the International Air Transport Association, said airlines can't afford to set up the massive databases needed to store so much data.
Graham also said it would be difficult to keep the information secure, and that the job of identifying sick people shouldn't be left up to flight crews who have no medical training. She said it's likely that foreigner passengers would balk at providing personal information to be held by the U.S. government.
“It's not in our interests to have an outbreak,” Graham said, “but the burden shouldn't be solely on the industry.”
Koppaka said the CDC is reviewing the comments filed in response to its proposed new requirements. “We take the input very seriously,” he said. He did not provide a timetable for when revised requirements would be made public.
Symptoms of avian influenza in humans can be mild, such as fever, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches. More severe reactions include eye infections, pneumonia and potentially life-threatening respiratory diseases, according to the CDC.
