--- title: Ebola Blame Game: CDC, Tom Frieden, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and More description: A guide to the Ebola blame game canonical: https://time.com/3513274/ebola-cdc-obama-blame/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-16T19:01:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:05.928Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Blame Game: CDC, Tom Frieden, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and More og:description: A guide to the Ebola blame game og:url: https://time.com/3513274/ebola-cdc-obama-blame/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Blame Game: CDC, Tom Frieden, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney and More twitter:description: A guide to the Ebola blame game twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Who's Blaming Who for Ebola > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EJ3m56cA.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-10-02. Health officials in the US are using a method known as contact tracing, to see who is at risk from Ebola._ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) and [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) Oct 16, 2014 7:01 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) and [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/) Oct 16, 2014 7:01 PM UTC **Correction appended at 8:35 p.m. ET** The [Ebola crisis in Texas](http://time.com/3510341/ebola-airplane/) has resulted in the death of one patient, the infection of two health care workers, and an endless round of finger-pointing—all of which is yielding a flurry of conflicting news accounts and a very confused public. Here’s a rundown of who has been blaming who, and when. **The player: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)** **Who they’re blaming:** Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, an infected nurse, and the CDC itself * CDC Director Tom Frieden on Sunday [blamed](http://time.com/3499896/ebola-texas-health-worker-positive/) a “breach in protocol” for allowing the infection of nurse Nina Pham. * Frieden admitted on Tuesday the CDC could have done more: “We did send some expertise in infection control but think in retrospect, with 20-20 hindsight, we could have sent a more robust hospital infection control team, and been more hands on at the hospital on day one about exactly how this \[case\] should be managed. We will do that from now on any time we have a confirmed case.” * Frieden, commenting on the infection of the second nurse, Amanda Joy Vinson, said: “She should not have flown on \[a plane\].” * But a CDC spokesman later explained to [TIME](http://time.com/3510341/ebola-airplane/) that the agency had actually asked Vinson to travel: As officials widened the net of people who needed to be monitored, Vinson was in Ohio and the CDC told her to go back to Dallas. Her temperature was 99.5°F, the spokesperson said. “Most doctors would call that a slight temperature, not a fever,” he said. “At that point, she was asked by CDC to come back to Dallas so she could be monitored, and she came back.” **The player: Dallas nurse Amber Joy Vinson** **Who they’re blaming:** The CDC * Vinson [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/us/ebola-outbreak-texas.html) she was cleared by the CDC for travel, which a spokesman later confirmed. She traveled to Cleveland to plan her wedding. ### See The Tobacco Leaves That Could Cure Ebola  Tobacco plants are grown for six weeks in the Medicago greenhouse in Quebec City so their leaves are large enough to serve as a factory for making antibodies. The plants are not modified or genetically altered in any way during this time. Mathieu Belanger—Reuters  Researchers at Icon Genetics in Germany prepare the DNA coding for antibodies that can neutralize Ebola. These genes are inserted into a soil bacterium that easily infects the tobacco plant cells. Once in the cells, the gene is treated like any other plant gene and the plant starts churning out the antibodies. Sean Gallup—Getty Images  To infect the leaves with the antibody-containing bacteria, the plants are submerged in a water solution of the loaded bacteria. Plant cells have plenty of empty spaces filled with air, so a vacuum removes the air and the water, along with the bacteria and antibody genes, flow in. Mathieu Belanger—Reuters  The leaf at the bottom has not been treated. The leaf on top is now an antibody-making factory. The plant's normal machinery starts making the antibody as if it is a plant protein. Mathieu Belanger—Reuters  Researchers at Icon Genetics grind the leaves down to filter out the antibodies. Sean Gallup—Getty Images  Ultraviolet light reveals the clusters of cells that are busy making antibodies. One kg of leaves produces about 5g of antibodies, which is about a third of the dose required to treat an Ebola patient. Sean Gallup—Getty Images **The player: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital** **Who they’re blaming:** Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital and National Nurses United * The hospital originally released Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient diagnosed in the U.S., who later died. Later, after his diagnosis, the hospital offered a number of reasons for not treating him immediately. At first, the hospital said a computer glitch was responsible for his travel history not being communicated to staff, and then said a nurse did not provide Duncan’s travel history to a physician. Finally, the hospital admitted it made a mistake. * The hospital refuted claims from a nurses’ union that nurses weren’t adequately trained: “The assertions \[of National Nurses United\] do not reflect actual facts learned from the medical record and interactions with clinical caregivers. Our hospital followed the Centers for Disease Control guidelines and sought additional guidance and clarity.” **The player: Doctors Without Borders** **Who they’re blaming:** The CDC * A Doctors Without Borders representative questioned the CDC’s preparation in the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/us/lax-us-guidelines-on-ebola-led-to-poor-hospital-training-experts-say.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LedeSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news): “I’ve seen the CDC poster. It doesn’t say anywhere that it’s for Ebola. I was surprised that it was only one set of gloves, and the rest bare hands. It seems to be for general cases of infectious disease.” **The player: Emory University Hospital** **Who they’re blaming:** The CDC * Sean G. Kaufman, who oversaw infection control at Emory University Hospital, told the [New York _Times_](http://ti.me/1wbkvrU) that the CDC’s guidelines are “absolutely irresponsible and dead wrong,” and that he tried to warn that they were not stringent enough and “they kind of blew me off. I’m happy to see they’re changing them, but it’s late.” **The player: National Nurses United** **Who they’re blaming:** Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, the CDC * A [statement](http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/blog/entry/statement-by-registered-nurses-at-texas-health-presbyterian-hospital-in-dal/) from the union cites “confusion” and “frequently changing policies and protocols” at the hospital: “No one knew what the protocols were or were able to verify what kind of personal protective equipment should be worn and there was no training.” * RoseAnn DeMoro, the union’s head, [contested](http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/15/health/texas-ebola-nurses-union-claims/) the CDC’s claim that nurses didn’t follow protocol: “The protocols that should have been in place in Dallas were not in place, and that those protocols are not in place anywhere in the United States as far as we can tell.” **The player: Republicans** **Who they’re blaming:** Frieden, an open border, Democrats, President Barack Obama * [Mitt Romney](http://www.nh1.com/news/paul-steinhauser-romney-criticizes-president-obama-over-ebola-response/), the 2012 presidential candidate: “Look this administration couldn’t run the IRS right, and it apparently isn’t running the CDC right. And you ask yourself what is it going to take to have a president who really focuses on the interests of the American people.” * Republican Rep. [Thom Tillis](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/14/scott-brown-anyone-with-ebola-can-walk-across-our-porous-border/), a Senate candidate in North Carolina: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got an Ebola outbreak, we have bad actors that can come across the border. We need to seal the border and secure it.” * New Hampshire Senate candidate [Scott Brown](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/10/14/scott-brown-anyone-with-ebola-can-walk-across-our-porous-border/) addressing his opponent’s record: “I think it’s naive to think that people aren’t going to be walking through here who have those types of diseases and/or other types of intent, criminal or terrorist. And yet we do nothing to secure our border. It’s dangerous. And that’s the difference. I voted to secure it. Senator Shaheen has not.” **The player: Democrats** **Who they’re blaming:** Republicans * The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in an [ad](http://dccc.org/new-dccc-web-ads-republicans-cut-cdcs-budget-fight-ebola-protecting-tax-breaks-special-interests/) targeting GOP congressional candidates: “Republicans voted to cut CDC’s budget to fight Ebola.” **The player: Dallas Nurse** **Briana Aguirre** **Who they’re blaming:** Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital * Aguirre told [NBC](http://time.com/3512894/ebola-hospital-nurse-basic-principles-of-nursing/) that she [“can no longer defend \[her\] hospital at all.”](http://www.today.com/health/dallas-nurse-we-never-talked-about-ebola-thomas-eric-duncan-2D80220579) She said infection control was far too lax, waste was not properly taken care of, and the hospital didn’t provide any mandatory education or information about Ebola outside of an optional seminar before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived at the hospital. **The player: National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins** **Who they’re blaming:** Budget cuts, Congress * “NIH has been working on Ebola vaccines since 2001\. It’s not like we suddenly woke up and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, we should have something ready here,'” Collins [told _The Huffington Post_](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/12/ebola-vaccine%5Fn%5F5974148.html). “Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would’ve gone through clinical trials and would have been ready.” _Read next:_ [_U.S. Scrambles to Contain Ebola_](http://time.com/3510341/ebola-airplane/?xid=time%5Freadnext) _The original version of this story misstated the first name of Amber Joy Vinson._ ## Transcript Now that the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed on American soil, what's next? How can we keep the virus from spreading? Health officials are now turning to a process known as contact tracing to figure out who else might have been exposed to the virus. The likeliest candidates are the medical technicians who treated him. That's because Ebola is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids, which health workers could have come in contact with while treating the patient. Beyond that are the patient's family members or people who have been living in close quarters with him since he developed the symptoms, including fever. Vomiting or diarrhea. These people will be monitored for 21 days, which is the incubation period of Ebola, to see if they develop similar symptoms. They won't be quarantined, but they might be asked to avoid traveling out of the country and spending time in crowded public areas. If anyone in either of these rings appears infected. Health officials will extend their monitoring to include anyone those people have been in contact with. Including their family members, school classmates, or work colleagues, until no more Ebola symptoms are discovered. Beyond that, if people in this ring appear infected, they too would be monitored for symptoms for 21 days, and the analysis would spread to their contacts. The passengers on the patient's flights from Liberia to the US aren't considered at high risk of exposure, since he was not experiencing symptoms then. Of course, all of this depends on honest and accurate information from the patient and his contacts about where they have been and with whom. Something that has been an issue in West Africa. There the stigma against Ebola has led patients to flee health volunteers who are attempting to trace contacts or fail to report people they have interacted with. 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