A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas, Texas, October 12, 2014.
A member of the CG Environmental HazMat team disinfects the entrance to the residence of a health worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who has contracted Ebola in Dallas, Texas, October 12, 2014. REUTERS/Jaime R. Carrero

A New Zealand aid worker who served in Africa in the past year was shocked at the "relaxed" screening process for Ebola at Auckland Airport. In a TVNZ report, UN resettlement consultant Katherine Cox had expected tighter screening at the airport after travelling to countries with suspected cases of Ebola.

She was disappointed when airport officials did not take her temperature. Cox travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo last September where a separate outbreak of the virus had killed 43 people. When she was on a layover in China, her temperature was checked. Chinese authorities had asked if she had a sore throat. She was asked questions after she had declared she had been to Congo.

When she arrived in New Zealand last Oct. 10, Cox had expected the same process but she was only given a pamphlet with a contact number to call in case she began to "feel sick." Cox said she was in Rwanda, Congo and Uganda where everyone coming from those countries had their temperatures checked.

In reaction to Cox's statements, Health Ministry spokesperson Peter Abernethy said authorities will not single her out unless she had travelled to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He added that travellers are usually asked if they have been to the Ebola-affected countries and if they have noticed any symptoms. If no symptoms are visible, they are instructed to contact a hotline if they start having them.

Meanwhile, nurses in Texas, U.S., are also complaining of lenient safety measures against Ebola. A group of nurses said in a press conference that hospitals were not following the recommended safety protocols of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The national union of nurses claimed that the Dallas hospital where Thomas Duncan, the patient diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., had died, was not following the protocols.

National Nurses United director RoseAnn DeMoro said nurses are not protected and prepared to handle Ebola in the U.S. According to reports, the CDC has expressed its intention to train healthcare workers after officials had confirmed that Nina Pham, who is a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, had been infected with Ebola after caring for Duncan. DeMoro claimed hospitals ignored the CDC's advice in March to prepare for possible cases of Ebola.