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Obama to U.S.: embrace healthcare workers fighting Ebola, outbreak 'will be defeated'

"This disease can be contained. It will be defeated."

By Matt Bradwell
President Barack Obama hugs Ebola victim Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool
President Barack Obama hugs Ebola victim Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama declared Tuesday local and federal legislative action should be supportive of healthcare workers combating Ebola in West Africa, and cautioned against discouraging volunteers from "doing God's work."

Without directly alluding to Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Chris Christie, Obama seemed to be not-so-passively condemning the pair's Ebola policies when he said, "We don't want to discourage our health care workers from going to the front lines and dealing with this in an effective way." He added, "This disease can be contained. It will be defeated."

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Both governors attempted to institute mandatory 21-day quarantines for any person entering the U.S. via New York or New Jersey from West Africa, but softened the joint policy after Christie found himself on the losing side of a public relations battle with Ebola-free quarantined nurse Kaci Hickox.

"We have to make sure that we continue to provide the support of health workers who are going overseas to deal with the disease where it really has been raging."

Obama also urged Americans to stay measured in their reaction to news of Ebola, as both nurses diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. successfully recovered, and every American treated stateside remains alive and well.

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"It's important for the American people to remember that only two people so far have contracted Ebola on American soil ... We can make sure that when they come back, they are being monitored in a prudent fashion, but we want to make sure that we understand that they are doing God's work over there."

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