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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — New York's Republican candidate for governor said Monday that entire planeloads of passengers should be turned away at Kennedy Airport if anyone aboard is coming from the African nations plagued with Ebola.
Rob Astorino said during a telephone news conference that even American citizens — such as a tourist returning from Paris — should not be allowed to get off in New York in someone on the flight traveled from Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone.
"If a passenger originated from one of those nations and got on a connecting flight, yes, that flight should not be permitted to disembark," Astorino said. "People could have been infected during the flight."
He said there is no guarantee that Ebola, which is spread through bodily fluids, "cannot be spread through the air system."
Astorino said his opponent, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, should order the state health commissioner to "close those gates at the airport."
"We have a potential health crisis unfolding in this country," said Astorino, the Westchester County executive. "If we don't get ahold of this now and prevent passengers infected with Ebola coming into our country through our airports, then we're going to be dealing with a major health crisis soon."
Ebola has killed more than 4,500 people in Africa.
Calls to the Cuomo campaign were not immediately returned Monday. Cuomo said earlier in the day that the federal government should consider a ban on flights to New York from the three West African nations. But he said it was not in his job description to make decisions about closing airports. He also noted that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York City's airports, doesn't have the authority to stop the flights.
Astorino, who has trailed Cuomo in polls, called for a flight ban Oct. 7 but went beyond that Monday. He said New York must act because "the federal government is unwilling to do what they're supposed to do to protect us."
President Barack Obama has declined to impose a flight ban.
Astorino said the ban would be temporary, "until we can get our act together here in America."
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