Pres. Obama Visiting CDC in Atlanta, Announce Plans to Combat Ebola Virus in Africa

Obama speaks about the sequester in Washington
President Obama will announce his plans to help stem the tide of the Ebola virus epidemic that’s tearing a swath of destruction in West Africa during his visit to the CDC in suburban Atlanta on Tuesday.
While at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in DeKalb County, Ga., the president is expected to announce the deployment of 3,000 troops and other military personnel to fight the deadly virus.
According to the Associated Press, the plan includes the training of as many as 500 healthcare workers a week to fight Ebola and setting up nearly 20 100-bed facilities in the region.
The coast of the transcontinental effort will be in the range of $500 million in overseas contingency operations, such as the war in Afghanistan, that the Pentagon already has asked Congress to redirect to carry out humanitarian efforts in Iraq and in West Africa.
The officials said it would take about two weeks to get U.S. forces on the ground.
The U.S. effort will include medics and corpsmen for treatment and training, engineers to help erect the treatment facilities and specialists in logistics to assist in patient transportation.
“This is one of the worst, if not the worst, outbreaks of the Ebola virus we’ve ever seen,” White House Spokesman Josh Earnest.

Air Force One is scheduled to land at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport around 2 p.m. Tuesday and depart several hours later.
While at the CDC, Obama also will be briefed about cases of respiratory illness being reported in the Midwest, the White House said. Public health officials are monitoring a high number of reported illnesses associated with human enterovirus 68 in Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and elsewhere.
After leaving Atlanta, Obama planned to travel to Florida to visit the headquarters of U.S. Central Command in Tampa, where he’ll meet with military officials about the U.S. counterterrorism campaign against the Islamic State group.

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