In the midst of the fear of Ebola has been spreading in the U.S. due to the isolated incidents in Texas and New York, President Obama said on Tuesday that efforts to fight the outbreak in West Africa should not be hindered or discouraged.
"We don't want to discourage our health-care workers from going to the front lines and dealing with this in an effective way," he said. "Our medical teams here are getting better and better prepared and trained for the possibility of an isolated Ebola case here in the United States. But in the meantime, we've got to make sure that we continue to provide the support of health workers who are going overseas to deal with the disease where it really has been raging."
"We can make sure that when they [the health workers] come back, they're being monitored in a prudent fashion, but we want to make sure that we understand that they are doing God's work over there, and they're doing that to keep us safe," Obama continued. "And I want to make sure that every policy we put in place is supportive of their efforts. Because if they are successful, then we're not going to have to worry about Ebola here at home."
He emphasized the work that the U.S. Agency for International Development's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has been doing in West Africa since August, saying that they are "the strategic backbone of America's response." Thus far, DART has "increased treatment units and burial teams" and "launched an aggressive education campaign in-country," Obama said, enabling medical personnel and health care workers to have "what they need to get the job done."
President Obama's less restrictive approach was criticized by some, including New York's and New Jersey's governors, who placed strict rules on quarantining all individuals who returned from the countries in West Africa in which the outbreak was most severe.
"The CDC, the federal government says, that's unnecessary," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, referring to the state's quarantining guidelines. "I disagree. They want to say I'm being too cautious. You know what? Maybe I'm being cautious. But I've been governor for four years and my policy has been, better to err on the side of caution."
Meanwhile, these mandatory quarantines were highly criticized recently when a nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa returned to New Jersey. She was forced to stay in a tent for three days, "given only a portable toilet but no shower or television," according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Policies and guidelines regarding those coming into the U.S. from West Africa is currently different by state. Some states have formal quarantining guidelines, while others have guidelines that include monitoring by health officials. Regulations also depend on the individual's extent of contact with Ebola patients.
