Gregg Zoroya

USA TODAY Opinion

Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, could be subjected to close monitoring for Ebola when she returns from West Africa later this week.

The White House and the State Department said the ambassador, who is visiting Ebola-stricken Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, would abide by whatever local or state restrictions are in place when she returns to the United States.

Power, 44, is scheduled to be in New York by Friday. The office of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo provided no information on whether or how Power and her traveling companions will be subject to state restrictions.

New York state now requires any person who has visited affected areas but had no direct contact with Ebola patients — which the State Department said applies to Power — be "treated on a case-by-case basis" concerning possible isolation. At a minimum, this kind of returning traveler would be monitored for symptoms and fever twice daily by state health officials for 21 days.

Three weeks is believed to be the incubation period for Ebola.

"She will, just like any other traveler, abide by those monitoring requirements," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.

The New York restrictions are in the context of travelers returning on commercial flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Power is flying on military aircraft and it was not clear Monday whether she would enter the United States and land at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., or travel directly to New York City.

Health care workers exposed to Ebola patients face stiff restrictions in New York, where they are subject to a mandatory 21-day isolation in their homes.

Power is traveling with about 15 people, including staff, advisers and a small press contingent, according to her office.

After visiting West Africa, she travels to Brussels to meet with European leaders before returning to the U.S., according to the State Department.

Power and her group "will have no contact with individuals infected with Ebola. She's not visiting Ebola treatment units. They're observing all hand-washing protocols and doing temperature screenings multiple times a day," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

"Depending upon where she is and where she lands (in the U.S.), she'll abide by whatever the requirements are," Psaki said.