Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) blasted President Barack Obama's response to the United States' first case of Ebola on Friday, saying the administration must "stop accepting flights from countries that are Ebola stricken."
"President Obama said it was 'unlikely' that Ebola would reach the U.S.," Jindal said in a press release reported by Talking Points Memo. "Well, it has, and we need to protect our people. But the Obama administration keeps saying they won't shut down flights. They instead say we should listen to 'the experts.'…How exactly would stopping the entry of people potentially carrying the Ebola virus be counterproductive? This seems to be an obvious step to protect public health in the United States."
White House officials held a briefing about the Ebola outbreak on Friday, reassuring Americans that the United States has responded to four decades' of Ebola scares, and that any flight bans could actually negatively effect the country's ability to send aid and help end the outbreak. "We know how to do this, and we will do it again," Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said.
A Dallas hospital is treating Thomas Eric Duncan for Ebola, after the patient traveled to the United States from Liberia last month and tested positive for the virus. Fifty additional individuals who had contact with Duncan are being monitored, 10 of whom are considered at "high risk" of having been exposed to Ebola.