Kenyan court blocks Ebola quarantine facility for Americans

Within hours of U.S. officials announcing that a 50-bed Ebola quarantine facility was slated to open in Kenya on May 29, a Kenyan court ordered the temporary suspension of the plan over concerns about risks to public health.

U.S. officials said May 28 that they would be setting up a camp in Kenya to quarantine American citizens who may have been exposed to the Bundibugyo variant of the Ebola virus and that it would be operational the next day.

The plans also included bringing in bio containment units and isolation units if individuals became symptomatic and until they were transported to a tertiary facility. Officials said 30 Commissioned Corps officers from the U.S. Public Health Service had been sent to Kenya on May 27.

As of May 27, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had 121 confirmed cases and 17 deaths, and Uganda reported 7 confirmed cases and 1 death. There is no Food and Drug Administration-licensed or authorized vaccine yet for the current Ebola outbreak, caused by Bundibugyo virus.

Presently, seven Americans are being monitored for the infectious disease, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official. Only one of them, a missionary doctor, tested positive for Ebola. The patient, who was diagnosed on May 17 in the DRC, was transported to Germany for treatment.

The Katiba Institute, a Nairobi-based nonprofit which promotes the understanding of Kenya's Constitution, challenged the proposed establishment of a quarantine facility on May 28.

“The secretive, unilateral establishment of an Ebola quarantine facility raises grave constitutional concerns regarding the rights to life, health, fair administrative action, public participation, and parliamentary oversight,” it said, asking the Kenyan government for more transparency.

A high court judge granted interim suspension of operations.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about what this would mean for Americans who might have been sent to Kenya.

Earlier in the week, a White House official said the plan was intended to provide Americans quicker care if they were exposed to the virus.

“Time is of the essence for Ebola patients, and this facility will enable Americans in the region who contract Ebola to receive lifesaving care as quickly as possible without 12-plus hours of medevac flight time,” the official said.

The CDC sent an "urgent request" to its employees seeking volunteers to help screen passengers arriving from the DRC and Uganda for signs of Ebola.

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal.