Obama on Ebola fight: US can't seal itself off, President Barack Obama, for the second consecutive day, warned that travel bans and quarantines won’t stop Ebola, and said the U.S. must keep sending health workers to “snuff out” the disease at its West African source.
Obama appeared at the White House today with medical professionals who’ve returned from the Ebola-stricken region or are about to go. The appearance was part of a strategy to head off a patchwork of responses by state and local officials, while easing public concern about his administration’s response a week before mid-term elections.
“We can’t hermetically seal ourselves off,” Obama said. “It’s critical that we remain focused on the facts and the science.”
The president said he was frustrated by reactions by public officials, whom he didn’t name, that amount to “hiding under the covers.” Discouraging doctors, nurses and public health specialists from visiting Africa by imposing unnecessary quarantines upon their return raises the risk of Ebola spreading, he said.
More than 13,650 people have fallen ill with the deadly virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and more than 4,900 have died, according to the World Health Organization. The fatality rate is still about 70 percent based on patients whose disease has been monitored closely.
Obama appeared at the White House today with medical professionals who’ve returned from the Ebola-stricken region or are about to go. The appearance was part of a strategy to head off a patchwork of responses by state and local officials, while easing public concern about his administration’s response a week before mid-term elections.
“We can’t hermetically seal ourselves off,” Obama said. “It’s critical that we remain focused on the facts and the science.”
The president said he was frustrated by reactions by public officials, whom he didn’t name, that amount to “hiding under the covers.” Discouraging doctors, nurses and public health specialists from visiting Africa by imposing unnecessary quarantines upon their return raises the risk of Ebola spreading, he said.
More than 13,650 people have fallen ill with the deadly virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and more than 4,900 have died, according to the World Health Organization. The fatality rate is still about 70 percent based on patients whose disease has been monitored closely.
