President Obama just gave newly cured Ebola patient Nina Pham a hug

Perhaps President Obama's biggest role in America's Ebola crisis is "calmer-in-chief." A photo taken Friday is pretty good evidence of how seriously he's taking the job.

Nina Pham — the Texas Presbyterian Hospital nurse who was the first health care worker to contract Ebola from Thomas Eric Duncan — was declared Ebola-free and released from NIH hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, this afternoon. Before heading home to Dallas, Pham made a stop at The White House to receive a goodbye hug from the president himself:

(Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

Article continues below

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, President Obama is hoping this photo is screaming "You don't have Ebola!" on repeat.

Explore More

Mike Barry is the senior editor of audience development and outreach at TheWeek.com. He was previously a contributing editor at The Huffington Post. Prior to that, he was best known for interrupting a college chemistry class.