HHS secretary asks nation’s doctors to stay ready for Ebola as possible NYC patient emerges

President Obama’s top health official implored the nation’s doctors Thursday to help the U.S. stem the threat of Ebola and keep health care workers safe against the deadly virus that has wreaked havoc in West Africa, struck Dallas and, as she spoke, set off a scare in New York.

“From both a public health and a national security standpoint, Ebola is a top priority of this administration. We’re taking a ’whole of government’ approach to responding at home and abroad,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told the American Academy of Family Physicians in downtown Washington.

Mrs. Burwell has been a behind-the-scenes figure in the fight against Ebola — Dr. Tom Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been in front of the cameras — although she insists she is deeply engaged and has daily meetings on the topic.

Part of the administration’s challenge is in assuring Americans that it is highly unlikely they will come anywhere near Ebola.

“As physicians, you know that this is a difficult disease to catch,” Mrs. Burwell said in prepared remarks. “It is important for Americans to know this. You might have heard the president himself talk about how he has met and hugged some of the doctors and nursed who’ve treated Ebola patients.”

But the administration faced criticism for its slow response to the first Ebola case in America. Nurses at the Dallas hospital that treated Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, who tested positive shortly after arriving in Texas and later died, say they had inadequate equipment and no real training on how to treat an infected person.

Two of them, 26-year-old Nina Pham and 29-year-old Amber Vinson, tested positive for Ebola but are doing well under sophisticated treatment.

Mrs. Burwell said it is important that hospitals stay prepared to combat Ebola and bone up on new guidelines from the CDC.

“That means screening and identifying potential cases by asking a travel history, isolating potential cases, using appropriate personal protective equipment and activating the hospital preparedness plan,” she said.

Her call to action comes as congressional lawmakers spar over what to do next. The Ebola threat in Texas has ebbed, but the disease is still raging in West Africa and could land on U.S. shores once more.

On Thursday, a health care worker in New York City who recently traveled to West Africa was isolated at a city hospital and tested for the virus after he showed symptoms, although the results might not be known for about 12 hours, according to The New York Times.

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all passengers from affected countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea to funnel into the country through one of five major international airports, and next week states will implement a 21-day monitoring program that requires West African travelers to report their temperatures and any symptoms.

Some Republican lawmakers say that is not enough. In a letter to Mrs. Burwell on Thursday, they scrutinized the administration’s opposition to a full ban on elective travel between the U.S. and nations reeling from Ebola, and they inquired about rapid diagnostic tools that can be used to detect Ebola more quickly.

“With a disease as deadly as Ebola, there is no margin for error,” Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Republican, said.

Democrats, meanwhile, wondered if the CDC and National Institutes of Health have been hampered in the Ebola fight due to underfunding.

“Recent Ebola and Enterovirus diagnoses have understandably alarmed the American public, but we can do more to both stop their spread and cure these illnesses. Had agencies like the CDC and [the National Institutes of Health] received adequate support over the last decade, America could very well have already developed a vaccine for Ebola — or any number of other diseases” such as Alzheimer’s or HIV/AIDS, Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat, said.