An American infected with Ebola is being treated in Berlin, while another exposed to the deadly virus is being sent to Prague after the White House reportedly resisted allowing citizens to return to the US for care and monitoring.
According to The Washington Post, five people close to the Ebola response said that, over the weekend, the Trump administration resisted allowing the return of Peter Stafford, a 39-year-old surgeon working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid a raging Ebola outbreak. The resistance allegedly delayed Stafford’s evacuation and care, risking his health, as experts note that early treatment is critical for Ebola, which can turn deadly in days.
On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Stafford had developed symptoms over the weekend and tested positive for Ebola late Sunday. In a press briefing on Wednesday, Satish Pillai, the CDC’s incident response manager for the Ebola outbreak, said Stafford had arrived in Germany and is in stable condition. His wife, Rebekah Stafford—also a doctor who was exposed to the virus in DRC but is asymptomatic—along with the couple’s four children, have been flown to Germany as well.
Another doctor, Patrick LaRochelle, who worked with the same Christian missionary group as the Staffords, called Serge, was also exposed to the virus but remains asymptomatic. He is being transferred to Prague for monitoring and care. According to the Post, his wife and children, who were with him in the DRC, were flown to the US after the CDC concluded that they had not been exposed to the virus.
“Did not want him”
The Ebola outbreak, caused by the uncommon Bundibugyo virus strain, was first confirmed on Friday and has quickly escalated to a public health emergency of international concern, according to the World Health Organization. On Friday, there were 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths; the latest numbers, as of Wednesday, from WHO stand at 528 suspected cases and 132 deaths.
It’s unclear when US officials learned of Stafford’s exposure, but upon receiving the information, a back-and-forth discussion on his evacuation began. “The president and his people did not want him back in the United States,” one source told the Post. Another confirmed, “They would not allow him to be transported to the United States.” Trump has previously criticized decisions to bring American Ebola patients back to the US during earlier outbreaks.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai denied that the administration didn’t want to accept Stafford and attacked the Post. “This is absolutely false and another reason why the Washington Post is no longer worth the paper it’s printed on,” Desai wrote in an email. He said the Trump administration’s top concern is ensuring the health and safety of citizens and praised the quality of the German hospital treating Stafford.
The US has multiple centers and hospital systems with specialized facilities capable of providing safe, high-quality care for Ebola patients.
In the press briefing on Wednesday afternoon, Pillai repeatedly dodged questions about the US refusing to allow Ebola-exposed Americans to return home for treatment and care. He also failed to explain how Germany and the Czech Republic—not known for expertise in dealing with Ebola—were chosen for caring for the Americans, or if any other countries were asked to take them and refused.
At one point, when asked directly if the White House had made the decision to refuse Americans, Pillai responded: “Right now, what I would say is that the plans for these individuals that have moved were made based on the conditions on the ground, the need to rapidly mobilize—as you know, this was a very rapid set of circumstances that unfolded over the weekend. And so, what I can tell you right now: this is what the situation was and this is how we responded as quickly as we could.”
Travel restrictions
In addition to sending Americans elsewhere for care and monitoring, the US has introduced travel restrictions related to the Ebola outbreak. Americans arriving from DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan will undergo health screenings, while non-US passport holders who have traveled in those countries in the past 21 days will be barred from entry.
In a statement Tuesday, Africa CDC responded to the restrictions, saying its “position is clear: generalised travel restrictions and border closures are not the solution to outbreaks. Such measures can create fear, damage economies, discourage transparency, complicate humanitarian and health operations, and divert movement toward informal and unmonitored routes—potentially increasing public health risks rather than reducing them.”
Jean Kaseya, Africa’s CDC director general, added: “The fastest path to protecting all countries in the world is to aggressively support outbreak control at the source. Global health security cannot be achieved through borders alone. It is achieved through partnership, trust, science, and rapid investment in preparedness and response capacity.”
