Obama Announces Stricter Airport Scans For Ebola
President Barack Obama on Monday announced plans for advanced airport screenings for passengers entering the U.S. from West Africa, where the current Ebola epidemic has killed over 3,000.
The president said Monday that the heightened security measures would be used both internationally and domestically to ensure the virus does not spread within the U.S. Currently, a patient in Dallas who recently arrived to the U.S. from Liberia is being treated for the virus. An NBC freelance journalist also arrived in Nebraska Monday to be treated for the virus after contracting it in Liberia.
"We're also going to be working on protocols to do additional passenger screening both at the source and here in the United States," the president told reporters on Monday, adding "I consider this a top national security priority."
The president also encouraged other countries to make more of an effort to fight the spread of Ebola.
"We have not seen other countries step up as aggressively as they need to," he said. "I said at the United Nations and I will repeat that this is an area where everybody has to chip in and everybody has to move quickly in order for us to get this under control."
Currently, the Dallas man who contracted Ebola while in Liberia is being treated using the experimental drug known as brincidofovir. The NBC freelance journalist is also being put on an "investigative," or experimental treatment plan.
Texas health officials have announced they are stepping up their emergency response team in an effort to monitor those who may have had contact with the infected Ebola patient.
