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| Obama Urges World Powers to Bolster Ebola Response | Obama Urges World Powers to Bolster Ebola Response |
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| ATLANTA — President Obama on Tuesday challenged world powers to ramp up the global response to the Ebola outbreak that is ravaging three West African countries, warning that unless health care workers, medical equipment and treatment centers are deployed quickly, the disease could take hundreds of thousands of lives. | ATLANTA — President Obama on Tuesday challenged world powers to ramp up the global response to the Ebola outbreak that is ravaging three West African countries, warning that unless health care workers, medical equipment and treatment centers are deployed quickly, the disease could take hundreds of thousands of lives. |
| “This epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better,” Mr. Obama said at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he met with doctors who had just returned from West Africa. But “right now, the world still has the opportunity to save lives.” | “This epidemic is going to get worse before it gets better,” Mr. Obama said at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he met with doctors who had just returned from West Africa. But “right now, the world still has the opportunity to save lives.” |
| He said “the world is looking” to the United States to lead the fight against Ebola. “This is a responsibility that we embrace,” he said. But he called on other nations to respond as well. | He said “the world is looking” to the United States to lead the fight against Ebola. “This is a responsibility that we embrace,” he said. But he called on other nations to respond as well. |
| The American response includes the deployment of some 3,000 American military personnel, including doctors, to Liberia and Senegal to wage war on a virus that so far has outstripped meager efforts to contain it. The Pentagon is to build 17 treatment centers of 100 beds each in Liberia, the country hardest hit so far in the epidemic, with five of them in the capital, Monrovia, the first large city to have an outbreak of Ebola. | The American response includes the deployment of some 3,000 American military personnel, including doctors, to Liberia and Senegal to wage war on a virus that so far has outstripped meager efforts to contain it. The Pentagon is to build 17 treatment centers of 100 beds each in Liberia, the country hardest hit so far in the epidemic, with five of them in the capital, Monrovia, the first large city to have an outbreak of Ebola. |
| Administration officials said they urgently needed strong responses from Britain and France, two countries that have colonial ties to the three hardest-hit African countries. Liberia was colonized by freed American slaves beginning in 1822; the British colonized Sierra Leone, and the French have longtime ties to Guinea. | Administration officials said they urgently needed strong responses from Britain and France, two countries that have colonial ties to the three hardest-hit African countries. Liberia was colonized by freed American slaves beginning in 1822; the British colonized Sierra Leone, and the French have longtime ties to Guinea. |
| A French official said that France on Sunday sent an additional 10 million euros, or $13 million, to Guinea for two tons of medical equipment and the construction of medical centers. The French also sent 12 million euros, or $15.5 million, and 24 doctors to Senegal and Ivory Coast. British troops, the government said last week, are headed to Sierra Leone to build and staff a 63-bed facility near the capital, Freetown. | A French official said that France on Sunday sent an additional 10 million euros, or $13 million, to Guinea for two tons of medical equipment and the construction of medical centers. The French also sent 12 million euros, or $15.5 million, and 24 doctors to Senegal and Ivory Coast. British troops, the government said last week, are headed to Sierra Leone to build and staff a 63-bed facility near the capital, Freetown. |
| In Washington, Beth Bell, the director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a Senate hearing that while Ebola did not currently pose a significant public health threat to the United States, “there is a window of opportunity to control the spread of this disease, but that window is closing.” | |
| Ms. Bell underscored the urgency of working to contain and manage the outbreak, explaining that the virus was “ferocious and spreading exponentially.” She warned that “we could be dealing with it for years to come” and that “speed and scale is of the essence” in the crisis. | |
| Lawmakers from both parties expressed a willingness to approve the $88 million Mr. Obama has already requested from Congress to help fight the disease — $30 million would go to the C.D.C., and $58 million would help the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority develop an antiviral drug, as well as potential vaccines. | |
| “We must take the dangerous, deadly threat of Ebola as seriously as we take ISIS,” said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, repeating the sentence for emphasis. “The spread of this disease deserves a more urgent response from our country and other countries around the world than it’s now getting. This is one of the most explosive, deadly epidemics in modern time if we do not do what we know how to do to control it.” | |
| In Geneva, senior United Nations officials said cases of the disease were rising at an almost exponential rate, with the number of reported cases climbing to 4,985, including 2,461 deaths. Half of the infections, according to Bruce Aylward, an assistant director general of the World Health Organization, occurred in the past 21 days, underscoring the acceleration of the outbreak. “We don’t know where the numbers are going with this,” Mr. Aylward said at a news conference in Geneva. | |
| He warned that the rapid spread of the disease “is going to require a much faster escalation of the response if we are to beat the escalation of the virus.” | He warned that the rapid spread of the disease “is going to require a much faster escalation of the response if we are to beat the escalation of the virus.” |
| Just how fast the American military can build the treatment centers in Monrovia is still in question. Liberian officials say that 1,000 beds are needed in Liberia in the next week alone to contain the disease. But American military officials cautioned that it would take time — perhaps as much as two weeks — before personnel arrive to begin setting up the first treatment centers. | Just how fast the American military can build the treatment centers in Monrovia is still in question. Liberian officials say that 1,000 beds are needed in Liberia in the next week alone to contain the disease. But American military officials cautioned that it would take time — perhaps as much as two weeks — before personnel arrive to begin setting up the first treatment centers. |
| The promise of a ramped-up American response “could change the trajectory of the spread of the disease — if that response is fast,” said Steven Radelet, a former development expert at both the Treasury and State Departments in the Clinton and Obama administrations who now advises the Liberian government on economic matters. “But the question is, how fast can they turn this to action?” | The promise of a ramped-up American response “could change the trajectory of the spread of the disease — if that response is fast,” said Steven Radelet, a former development expert at both the Treasury and State Departments in the Clinton and Obama administrations who now advises the Liberian government on economic matters. “But the question is, how fast can they turn this to action?” |
| Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that the military was setting up a staging base in Senegal, where no one has contracted Ebola at this point. A large contingent of American military personnel will be there; most of the rest will be in Liberia to provide logistics, training and construction support, but not to direct patient care. | Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said that the military was setting up a staging base in Senegal, where no one has contracted Ebola at this point. A large contingent of American military personnel will be there; most of the rest will be in Liberia to provide logistics, training and construction support, but not to direct patient care. |
| Before leaving the White House for Atlanta on Tuesday morning, Mr. Obama met with Dr. Kent Brantly, the American physician with Samaritan’s Purse who contracted Ebola when he was treating patients in Liberia. | Before leaving the White House for Atlanta on Tuesday morning, Mr. Obama met with Dr. Kent Brantly, the American physician with Samaritan’s Purse who contracted Ebola when he was treating patients in Liberia. |
| In Liberia, half a year after the start of the outbreak, the authorities remain incapable of carrying out the most basic steps needed to stop the spread of Ebola, including picking up the dead and isolating potentially infectious people. In the capital, bodies are often left in houses and neighborhoods for up to three days before they are taken away by burial teams. Because of a shortage of ambulances, families with visibly sick relatives take taxis to full treatment centers, where they are often turned away. | In Liberia, half a year after the start of the outbreak, the authorities remain incapable of carrying out the most basic steps needed to stop the spread of Ebola, including picking up the dead and isolating potentially infectious people. In the capital, bodies are often left in houses and neighborhoods for up to three days before they are taken away by burial teams. Because of a shortage of ambulances, families with visibly sick relatives take taxis to full treatment centers, where they are often turned away. |
| As Ebola spread through the capital last month, Liberia’s government initially asserted control over the fight against the virus, even placing an entire slum in Monrovia under quarantine, against international advice. But facing a deteriorating situation on the ground and increasing pressure by politicians and the news media to “outsource” the battle, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote letters to Mr. Obama and the leaders of China, Russia and several other countries asking for direct help. | As Ebola spread through the capital last month, Liberia’s government initially asserted control over the fight against the virus, even placing an entire slum in Monrovia under quarantine, against international advice. But facing a deteriorating situation on the ground and increasing pressure by politicians and the news media to “outsource” the battle, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wrote letters to Mr. Obama and the leaders of China, Russia and several other countries asking for direct help. |
| Because of Liberia’s historical ties to the United States, a visible American military presence would not draw the kind of backlash it would elsewhere in Africa. | Because of Liberia’s historical ties to the United States, a visible American military presence would not draw the kind of backlash it would elsewhere in Africa. |
| On Tuesday, many Liberians in Monrovia welcomed news of greater American involvement. “It will help us,” said the Rev. Otis Borbor, the pastor at the Lighthouse Assemblies of God church in Caldwell, one of Monrovia’s most affected neighborhoods. “That’s what we were praying for, the pastors. We were praying to God that he may send people to rescue us and carry help to the country. So when we heard that, we were happy.” | On Tuesday, many Liberians in Monrovia welcomed news of greater American involvement. “It will help us,” said the Rev. Otis Borbor, the pastor at the Lighthouse Assemblies of God church in Caldwell, one of Monrovia’s most affected neighborhoods. “That’s what we were praying for, the pastors. We were praying to God that he may send people to rescue us and carry help to the country. So when we heard that, we were happy.” |