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12/22/2024 03:32:43 pm

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Obama Mulls Appointing Ebola ‘Czar’ For U.S., Still Against Travel Ban

United States President Barack Obama

(Photo : Reuters / Kevin Lamarque) U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the 69th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 24, 2014.

U.S. President Barack Obama is thinking about appointing an Ebola "czar" to oversee the country's fight against the deadly Ebola virus, but said he is still against issuing a ban on flights from West Africa.

The administration came under fire for allegedly not doing enough to control the Ebola virus in the U.S. On Thursday, the president ordered military reservists to join the country's effort to combat the Ebola virus in West Africa, according to Zee News.

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Concerns over the disease have gone up on the heels of the infection of two nurses from Texas. The said health workers reportedly cared for a Liberian patient with Ebola infection.

As of now, the disease is still spreading in West Africa and has not reached the portions of Sierra Leone previously unaffected by the virus. To date, Ebola has taken more than 4,500 lives since an outbreak was detected in March, the report detailed.

U.S. lawmakers gathered for a congressional hearing on the handling of the Ebola situation in the country. Some of them suggested implementing a travel ban on flights from West Africa and appointing a czar.

"It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person" who will manage the anti-Ebola efforts in the U.S., Obama said after speaking with aides helping in the efforts to fight the deadly virus.

On Thursday, Jamaica announced a travel ban to be implemented immediately. Guyana also said in the last five weeks, it has blocked the entry of citizens coming in from West African countries affected by the Ebola outbreak.

Meanwhile, the U.S. president said experts advised him that implementing a travel ban is not the right thing to do at the moment because the airport screenings are effective.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also said shutting U.S. borders would only hinder their ability to monitor infected people entering the country. In addition, banning flights to Africa would cripple their ability to target the source of the virus, Frieden reasoned.

The U.S. government is considering whether or not they should order a travel ban a "day-to-day basis," according to Michael Huerta, the chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Although the Ebola virus is spread via direct contact with body fluids of an infected patient exhibiting the symptoms of the disease, it is not airborne.

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