House Speaker John Boehner said President Obama should “absolutely consider” a travel ban from West African nations stricken with the Ebola virus.
Boehner cited “doubts about the security of our air travel system,” and he made the statement after the Centers for Disease Control announced Wednesday that an Ebola-infected health care worker took a flight from Cleveland, Ohio to Dallas, Texas, with a slight fever.
CDC Director Tom Frieden said the agency is contacting the 132 passengers who were aboard the Frontier Airlines flight. He also said the health care worker, Amber Joy Vinson, of Dallas, should not have boarded the airplane.
President Obama has resisted calls for a travel ban from Western African nations afflicted with Ebola. They include Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Obama skipped a Wednesday fundraiser and instead addressed the media, telling them the chance of contracting Ebola are “extraordinarily low.”
Boehner, however, pointed out that scores of people have now been exposed to Ebola via the first patient from Liberia, Thomas Eric Duncan — who died last week — and the two health care workers to contracted the virus from Duncan.
“In a September 16 speech in Atlanta, President Obama said the ‘chances of an Ebola outbreak here in the United States are extremely low.’ “ Boehner said. “Since that time, several Americans have been diagnosed with the virus and untold more potentially exposed to it. A temporary ban on travel to the United States from countries afflicted with the virus is something that the president should absolutely consider along with any other appropriate actions as doubts about the security of our air travel systems grow.”
A House panel will hold a hearing Wednesday on the federal government’s response to Ebola.
