--- title: U.S. Officials Urge Calm in Face of Ebola Concerns description: U.S. travelers to Africa asked to self-monitor health. canonical: https://time.com/3462519/u-s-officials-urge-calm-in-face-of-ebola-concerns/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-03T22:16:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:32.248Z article:section: Politics og:title: U.S. Officials Urge Calm in Face of Ebola Concerns og:description: U.S. travelers to Africa asked to self-monitor health. og:url: https://time.com/3462519/u-s-officials-urge-calm-in-face-of-ebola-concerns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94562e6b2b408c3b/6986a70ef983e784a30500ac/456608446.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Residents Quarantined In Dallas Apartment Where Ebola Patient Had Stayed og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Officials Urge Calm in Face of Ebola Concerns twitter:description: U.S. travelers to Africa asked to self-monitor health. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94562e6b2b408c3b/6986a70ef983e784a30500ac/456608446.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. Officials Urge Calm in Face of Ebola Concerns > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## 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 [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 3, 2014 10:16 PM UTC  DAA hazmat team member arrives to clean a unit at the Ivy Apartments, where the confirmed Ebola virus patient was staying, on Oct. 3, 2014 in Dallas. DAA hazmat team member arrives to clean a unit at the Ivy Apartments, where the confirmed Ebola virus patient was staying, on Oct. 3, 2014 in Dallas. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 3, 2014 10:16 PM UTC Senior administration officials set out to convey a clear message to Americans Friday after the first U.S. case of Ebola was confirmed: we’ve got this. Speaking to reporters in an unusual White House briefing, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa Monaco said every Ebola outbreak over the past 40 years has been stopped. “We know how to do this and we will do it again,” she said, flanked by public health, medical, military, and foreign assistance leaders. “With America’s leadership, I am confident, and President Obama is confident, that this epidemic will also be stopped.” Officials repeatedly said they believe the system broadly worked in identifying and isolating Thomas Eric Duncan, who traveled to the U.S. from Liberia last month and tested positive for the disease earlier this week, despite several high-profile missteps, including Duncan being sent home from the hospital after presenting symptoms consistent with Ebola and potentially exposing additional individuals. Fifty individuals are now being [monitored daily](http://time.com/3462004/ebola-us-50-monitored/) after coming into contact with Duncan, with 10 considered “high risk.” Four members of Duncan’s family have been quarantined by public health officials. “There are things that did not go the way the way they should have,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “But there are a lot of things that went right.” Monaco said such confidence is due to the fact that “the public health infrastructure we have here is so expert, is so extensive and is considerable,” compared to the “opposite” in disease-torn West African nations. That confidence comes even as Monaco and Fauci said they would not be surprised if other cases of Ebola made there way to the United States.”We have now seen one case, and it is entirely possible that we could see another case,” Monaco said. Already Friday there were several suspected cases of Ebola across the country, although officials emphasized how difficult it is to contract the disease. “The key elements to that control and the prevention of outbreaks when Ebola rises in a community is to first identify cases, isolate them, care for them under conditions that protect the health care workers and, importantly, perform contact tracing,” Fauci said, referring to the practice of investigating all those who may have been in contact with the infected patient. “People in direct contact with a sick Ebola patient should be monitored for symptoms for at least 21 days. If no symptoms arise, the individual was cleared. If symptoms arise, the person is appropriately isolated and cared for. This formula has worked very well over many years.” U.S. officials are stepping up education campaigns to hospitals, medical professionals, border agents, and airlines, as well as travelers, said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell. “The Department of Homeland Security is in the process of advising all travelers returning to the U.S. from countries with Ebola outbreaks in West Africa to monitor their health for 21 days and to immediately seek medical help if any symptoms do develop,” she said. But U.S. officials are not taking steps to restrict travel into or out of West Africa despite calls to do so from lawmakers on Capitol Hill Monaco said. “Right now we believe those types of steps actually impede the response,” she said, saying it would make it more difficult to send in aid. As many as [4,000 U.S. troops](http://time.com/3462240/pentagon-4000-troops-ebola/) may be deployed to West Africa to provide engineering and logistical assistance to help fight the disease there, while more than 100 medical professionals from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are on the ground. President Barack Obama phoned Gen. David M. Rodriguez, the commander of US Africa Command, for a briefing on the American military’s response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa Friday, according to the White House, and will be briefed again on the U.S. response on Monday. Monaco has been briefing the president on the outbreak daily as part of Obama’s daily national security briefing. ## 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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