Midday Roundup: U.S. Ebola rules emerging as Dallas quarantine ends

Relief in Dallas. The Department of Homeland Security announced this morning that travelers from Ebola-impacted countries in West Africa must arrive at one of five airports when coming to the United States. Those airports will have enhanced screening to try to stop a person with the Ebola virus from exposing the general public to the disease. As dozens of Dallas residents emerge from quarantine, declared free from the Ebola virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued new guidelines for healthcare workers caring for anyone diagnosed with the deadly disease. Caregivers should wear double sets of gloves, disposable hoods with full face-shields, and special masks. Although nurses in Dallas who treated the first U.S. Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, wore protective gear, two of them contracted the virus. Health officials still don’t know how they were infected. Meanwhile, several Dallas-area churches are working to find housing for those coming out of quarantine, including Duncan’s girlfriend. The quarantined people, who had closest contact with Duncan, had all of their possessions destroyed. About 116 people remain under observation and won’t be cleared until Nov. 7.

Moscow crash. French oil executive Christophe de Margerie died in a plane crash in Moscow last night, leaving the world’s fourth-largest non-state energy company without a leader. Under de Margerie’s leadership, Total SA expanded into British shale exploration, West African oil drilling, South Pacific natural gas, and oil sands in Canada, according to Bloomberg. The company inked a deal with a Russian energy company last year on a joint venture in Siberia. De Margerie’s corporate jet struck a snowplow as it was taking off from a Moscow airport in poor conditions. Russian officials have started an investigation but claim the plow driver was drunk, a charge the man’s lawyers deny.

Jail time. Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius will spend five years in jail for shooting his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, in February 2013. A South African judge sentenced Pistorius earlier today. He was convicted last month of culpable homicide, similar to the U.S. charge of manslaughter. Prosecutors had asked for 10 years, while Pistorius’ lawyers pleaded for no jail time for the double amputee. They argued Pistorius would be vulnerable in prison because of his disability. The Paralympian became a household name around the world in 2012 when he became the first amputee to compete in the Olympics. Reaction to the sentence was mixed, with many of Pistorius’ fellow South Africans taking to social media and talk radio to lambast the judge for what they described as a lenient sentence.

Data breach. Federal officials say as many as 519 million financial records have been hacked in the last 12 months, revealing the scope of a problem that first caught shoppers’ attention shortly before Christmas last year. Target was the first major retailer to announce a data security breach in December 2013. Staples became the latest with its announcement today. About half of American adults have had their personal data exposed in some form during the last year. Staples said its breach likely is limited to about half a dozen stores in the Northeast.

Runway remembrance. Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta has died. He was 82. De la Renta’s designs were popular with Hollywood stars, American first ladies, and European royalty. His dresses were a favorite of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Just weeks before he died, a de la Renta wedding gown made a splash on the cover of People magazine, worn by actor George Clooney’s bride, Amal Alamuddin. De la Renta was born in the Dominican Republic and worked in Spain before coming to the United States to found his own label in 1965.