Obama calls for aggressive US response to Ebola

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama vowed Wednesday that his administration would respond in a “much more aggressive way” to cases of Ebola in the United States and warned that in an age of frequent travel the disease could spread globally if the world doesn’t respond to the “raging epidemic in West Africa.”

In his most urgent comments on the spread of the disease, Obama also sought to ease growing anxiety and fears in the U.S. in the aftermath of a second nurse being diagnosed with Ebola after treating a patient in a Dallas hospital. He said he had directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step up its response to new cases.

“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 though what needs to be done,” he said.

Underscoring Obama’s stepped-up attention to the disease, the White House announced Obama was cancelling his travel Thursday to Rhode Island and New York to remain at the White House to monitor the government’s Ebola response.

It marked the second day in a row that Ebola altered Obama’s plans. Obama canceled a political campaign trip Wednesday to convene a session of top Cabinet officials involved in the Ebola response both in the U.S. and in the West African region where the disease has been spreading at alarming rates.

Participants in the meeting were a roster of Cabinet secretaries and top Obama advisers, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey.

Even as he raised the potential for global contagion, Obama also stressed that the danger in the United States remained a long shot.