Obama addresses US on Ebola

In his weekly address to the nation Saturday, Obama downplayed a travel ban for nationals of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the epicenter of the current Ebola outbreak, saying such restrictions would only exacerbate the problem.

"All of us - citizens, leaders, the media - have a responsibility and a role to play," Obama said. "This is a serious disease, but we can't give in to hysteria or fear - because that only makes it harder to get people the accurate information they need. We have to be guided by the science."

The US - where a Liberian died from Ebola October 8 and two nurses who treated him tested positive - was not seeing an "outbreak" or "epidemic," Obama said. In the country of nearly 320 million people, doctors have so far diagnosed just the three cases of Ebola, a virus not easily contracted, despite rampant fears across the US.

"If we take the steps that are necessary, if we're guided by the science - the facts, not fear - then I am absolutely confident that we can prevent a serious outbreak here in the United States," Obama said.

Earlier this week, lawmakers had urged Obama to bar people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea from entering the United States. Obama has said that he does not philosophically oppose travel bans, but, in his weekly address, he made it clear that he hasn't considered one.

Obama's radio address comes a day after the World Bank warned that countries had fallen behind in the fight to stop Ebola and the World Health Organization announced that, as of October 14, 4,555 people had died from the virus out of 9,216 registered cases. Earlier this week, the UN Security Council had called for the world to "dramatically expand" the response to Ebola.

'Frankly tone deaf'

Ron Klain, the new US czar tasked with fighting the virus, will ensure that "efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don't distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa," the White House announced on Friday. Klain - 53, a lawyer by training and a former adviser to Obama - has no medical experience and his appointment was quickly criticized by members of the Republican Party.

"The appointment is both shocking and frankly tone deaf to what the American people are concerned about," Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Murphy said. "Installing yet another political appointee who has no medical background or infectious disease control experience will do little to reassure Americans who are increasingly losing confidence with the administration's Ebola strategy."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest addressed such criticism, saying that "what we were looking for is not an Ebola expert but rather an implementation expert."

mkg/tj (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)