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Obama 'cautiously optimistic' there will be no Ebola outbreak in America

U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters Wednesday he was "cautiously optimistic about the [Ebola] situation here in the United States."

By JC Finley
U.S. President Barack Obama makes some comments after meeting with Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain (R) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on October 22, 2014. (UPI/Pat Benic)
1 of 2 | U.S. President Barack Obama makes some comments after meeting with Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain (R) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington DC on October 22, 2014. (UPI/Pat Benic) | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama met with newly appointed Ebola Response Coordinator Ron Klain at the White House on Wednesday.

Klain, who was appointed last week, started Wednesday.

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White House Press Secretary John Earnest reiterated the president's confidence in selecting Klain as the Ebola czar, telling reporters Tuesday that "Mr. Klain continues to be the person that the President believes is the expert implementer that's needed to ensure that our whole-of-government approach to fighting Ebola is effectively applied in this situation to protect the American public."

After meeting with Klain in the Oval Office Wednesday about the government's response to Ebola, Obama told reporters he was "cautiously optimistic about the situation here in the United States."

The reason for that optimism, he went on to say, was because "of how difficult it is to get this disease."

Obama cited the "fairly significant contact" family and friends had with Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. and who subsequently died from the virus. "They, we now known, do not have Ebola."

The president also reiterated that Ebola is not airborne.

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"This is not airborne; you have to have had contact with the bodily fluids of somebody who is actually showing symptoms of Ebola, which is why it makes it so hard to catch, although it obviously is very virulent if, in fact, you do come into contact with such bodily fluids."

The president emphasized that "the prospect of an outbreak here is extremely low," crediting America's strong health care system.

Specific steps, he added, have been taken to strengthen American hospitals' front line response to handling possible Ebola cases.

"The CDC has refined and put in place guidelines that will make sure that both in terms of protective gear and how it's disposed, and how we monitor anybody who might have Ebola, that those are tighter. ...

"And so we're going to systematically and steadily just make sure that every hospital has a plan; that they are displaying CDC information that has currently been provided so that they can step-by-step precautions when they're dealing with somebody who might have Ebola."

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