Obama Fails Ebola Test

Dallas, Texas is Ebola Ground Zero here in the United States. While health officials struggle to keep up with the outbreak in West Africa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are monitoring upwards of 100 people in Texas, suspected with coming in close personal contact with a contagious Ebola patient. Thomas Eric Duncan was the first infected Ebola patient to slip past health officials from West Africa TO the United States. Four other Americans all flew home to the US, but only AFTER they were diagnosed. Duncan checked into a hospital days after arriving from Liberia, but when he went into the hospital with Ebola symptoms, they sent him home with antibiotics.

Now, he’s back in the hospital, fighting for his life. CDC Director Tom Frieden continues to say Ebola will not break out, and that it’s not airborne. Frieden insists Ebola can only be transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids. But in the case of another recently infected American, NBC TV cameraman Ashoka Mukpo is now under isolated quarantine in a Nebraska hospital, and his crew has no idea how he could have contacted a sick patient’s bodily fluids. Meanwhile, World Health Organization leaders say THEY ARE concerned Ebola could MUTATE into an airborne contagion, if it hasn’t already.

Regardless of what we DO and DON’T know about Ebola, one thing is true. Every Ebola patient in America has these two things in common: They flew here on a flight from Africa, and President Obama allowed it to happen. Several Republican politicians have already addressed the Ebola outbreak, recommending a flight ban or a time quarantine before travelers come back to the US.

Congressman Paul Ryan raises the question, “What should be done with someone who gets on a plane in West Africa and comes to America? Should there be a quarantine time period?” Governor Bobby Jindal says, “It’s just common sense. Why wouldn’t we do everything we can to protect folks here in America, to stop these flights.” And Senator Rand Paul warns, “We also have to be concerned about 3 thousand soldiers getting back on a ship. Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers gets Ebola?”

Obama did stop to respond to these Republicans, through his press secretary. The White House says a ban on travel out of West Africa is NOT something they are willing to consider.