The ability of U.S. hospitals and public health systems to handle the deadly Ebola virus has been called into question. Doubts began to be raised once Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person in the U.S. to be diagnosed with Ebola.
Now that a second nurse who cared for Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas has become ill, the federal government is concentrating on improving the response to the disease and getting the necessary information out.
According to reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earlier this week cleared the second nurse, Amber Joy Vinson, to fly on a commercial airliner from Cleveland to Dallas.
Her reported temperature was below the threshold set by the agency, and she had no symptoms, according to CDC spokesman David Daigle, who talked to The Associated Press.
President Obama for a second day has canceled out-of-town trips to stay in Washington, D.C., and monitor the response to the outbreak.
Obama has made ramping up efforts a priority and wants to make sure what happened in Dallas doesn't happen elsewhere across the country. He said efforts are being taken very seriously at the highest levels of the government.
"As soon as somebody is diagnosed with Ebola, we want a rapid response team, a SWAT team, essentially, from the CDC to be on the ground as quickly as possible — hopefully within 24 hours — so that they are taking the local hospital step by step through exactly what needs to be done and making sure that all the protocols are properly observed; that the use of protective equipment is done effectively; that disposal of that protective equipment is done properly," Obama said after yesterday's Cabinet meeting.
On Capitol Hill today, the oversight subcommitttee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, scheduled a hearing on Ebola.
Panel members are expected to hear from Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer and senior executive vice president at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institutes of Health,
In prepared testimony, Fauci said Duncan's death and the infections of the two Dallas nurses and a nurse in Spain "intensify our concerns about this global health threat." He said two Ebola vaccine candidates were undergoing a first phase of human clinical testing this fall. But he cautioned that scientists were still in the early stages of understanding how Ebola infection can be treated and prevented.
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