Rick Perry urges air travel ban for people exposed to Ebola

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 17 (UPI) —

Amid increasing concerns about the spread of the deadly disease, Rick Perry, Republican governor of Texas, called on the federal government in a press conference Friday to ban air travel from West African countries affected by Ebola outbreak.




Perry also urged the Obama administration to enact no-fly lists for nurses and other healthcare professionals at risk of spreading the contagion.




President Obama "does have the authority to put a no-fly list that airlines then respect. That is an option I asked him to carefully consider to clearly send a message," Perry said.




"It defies common sense, from my perspective, that someone who has been in close proximity or treated these patients … would then go out and expose other people," he added, referring to the fact that a nurse who treated an Ebola patient was allowed to board a plane despite informing the CDC she was presenting a low-grade fever.




The nurse in question has since been diagnosed with Ebola and hospitalized herself.




Perry called the incident "indefensible."




"We must admit, along the way, we have seen ample opportunity for improvement, from the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] all the way to the hospital," Perry said.




"Considering it’s the first time Ebola has been diagnosed on American shores, it’s perhaps understandable mistakes were made, but it’s also unacceptable," Perry said, criticizing the Obama administration’s decline to impose travel bans.




"Air travel is in fact how this disease crosses borders. And it’s certainly how it got to Texas in the first place," Perry cautioned, changing his stance from only a week ago when he too opposed travel restrictions.




"The impact from banning flights from these areas is not going to be an efficient way to deal with this," Perry said just last week at a news conference at Galveston National Laboratory before leaving the country on a trip abroad. "There are some that would make the argument that it would [hamper the fight against Ebola]."




"I think it makes better sense for us to have a screening process in place," he said, suggesting enhanced screenings and temperature checks.




But after yet another diagnosis in his home state brought criticism from political opponents that Perry was "an irresponsible leader who’s not paying attention to Texans," the likely 2016 hopeful cut short his European vacation and returned to the Lone Star State to address escalating fears of the Ebola epidemic spreading, switching his position on travel bans and calling a press conference to urge the White House to do the same.




"This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this. Everyone working on this challenge — from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection — is working to end the threat posed by this disease. I have great faith that we will succeed in this important mission."




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