The White House on Wednesday said stricter travel restrictions weren’t necessary in the wake of the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States.
“We are confident that the sophisticated medical infrastructure that exists in the United States can prevent the wide spread of Ebola,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
The Obama administration on Tuesday announced that a man who flew from Liberia to Dallas had contracted the Ebola virus, which has killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa.
Republicans, in particular, have argued for tougher screening measures at ports of entry to ensure more Ebola victims don’t reach the United States.
Health officials in Texas said Wednesday that the Ebola patient, identified by the Associated Press as Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, came in contact with between 12 and 18 people. Health officials are now monitoring schoolchildren they believe could have been exposed to the virus.
Federal officials have been quick to dismiss the possibility of an Ebola outbreak on U.S. soil, saying that since the virus spreads only through bodily fluids, it is difficult to transmit without being detected and isolated.
“It is our view that we have the medical infrastructure that is necessary to try to treat this individual that does have Ebola in a way that doesn’t pose a significant risk to other patients in the hospital, to the doctors and nurses who will be caring for that individual — and certainly doesn’t pose a significant risk to the broader community,” Earnest said.
