Pandemic Influenza Plan - Questar III

Section 8: Travel-Related Disease Control and Community Prevention
In-state activity will include:
• Promoting awareness of CDC and WHO travel advisories and information on
how travelers can reduce their risk of acquiring pandemic influenza when
traveling outside New York State;
• Implementing point-of-entry interventions to rapidly identify persons who may
have or have been exposed to pandemic influenza;
• Isolating persons and identifying and quarantining contacts, at home or in
isolation and quarantine facilities.
Persons living in areas where a novel influenza strain is circulating and who develop
influenza-like illness and their contacts, should defer travel to unaffected areas. Persons
experiencing influenza-like symptoms should report their illness to health authorities.
Travelers from affected areas should undergo exit screening for influenza symptoms
before departing for areas currently free of influenza.
Non-essential travel to areas where a novel influenza strain is circulating should be
postponed. Travelers can learn where a novel influenza strain is present from CDC’s
Travel Health Precautions and Warnings web site (http://www.cdc.gov/travel) and
WHO’s Disease Outbreak News web site (http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/).
Effective management of travelers will require public health resources at entry points.
Persons traveling from an affected area who become ill in transit should be separated
from fellow travelers (if possible) on board. Illness among travelers should be reported to
health authorities in the countries of embarkation, destination, and transit (if any). Upon
arrival, newly ill persons should be referred for medical care and influenza testing. Ill
travelers arriving in an area where influenza has not begun to circulate should be isolated
for a minimum of 5 days, and contacts to the ill traveler should be quarantined for 10
days. Isolation and quarantine facilities for non-resident travelers should be identified in
advance and will be needed during the late pandemic alert period and early in the
pandemic phase. Local and state health department personnel may be needed to support
federal quarantine station personnel at land, water, and air ports of entry. An assessment
checklist for isolation or quarantine in the home or community-based facility is contained
in Appendix 8-A.
Two features of influenza will limit the usefulness of isolation and quarantine during an
influenza pandemic:
• Influenza’s short incubation period makes it difficult to identify and quarantine
contacts of infected persons before they also become ill and have spread infection
to others.
• A high rate of asymptomatic illness means infected persons will not be identified
and their contacts not known and quarantined.
Because of the uncertainty of the benefits of quarantine for pandemic influenza, the
effectiveness and compliance with such measures and the resources necessary to initiate
and enforce compliance should be continually evaluated.
February 7, 2006 8-3