Alex Wong
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health testified before Congress on Thursday to explain the Ebola outbreak’s implications for the U.S. The topics ranged from the urgent (how was a nurse in Dallas allowed to fly with Ebola?) to the weird (Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia thinks we “ought to at least restrict travel to dogs”). Republicans called on the Obama administration to impose a travel ban on all affected West African nations, while Democrats contended that increased screenings at U.S. airports were enough to prevent a major outbreak and that America's efforts should be focused on the crisis in West Africa. CDC director Thomas Frieden said the Center’s mission is to “keep Americans as safe as possible” and noted efforts to increase awareness among physicians of how to diagnose Ebola. Also during the hearing, Dr. Daniel Vargas of Texas Presbyterian Health admitted that the hospital made mistakes during the treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patent in the U.S., who infected two nurses.