Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee calls for a CDC Team to be placed at George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Texas Insider Report: Washington DC - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee a Senior Member on the House Homeland Security Committee and the House Judiciary Committee and Co-Chair of the House Congressional Childrens Caucus released the following statement after participating in todays Homeland Security Field Hearing on the serious outbreak of the Ebola virus:
The hearing today provided us the opportunity to review our state local federal and global public health infrastructure learn where there are inconsistencies and gaps and lay the foundation for eliminating these disparities. While the Ebola virus has caused the United States to institute new screening procedures at airports it is incumbent upon us to work with our international partners to eradicate the virus at its origin in West Africa.
I recently wrote a letter to the President and the Director of the CDC requesting that George Bush Intercontinental Airport be included on the list of airports to receive the enhanced Ebola screening protocols for those passengers whose flight itineraries indicate that the air travel originated in the countries of Guinea Liberia or Sierra Leone. The George Bush Intercontinental Airport serves the Houston area and is a major originating and connecting hub for international air travelers. From January to August 2014 there have been 99452 West African passengers traveling into and out of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport with a total of 1856421 international travelers. I am requesting that George Bush Intercontinental Airport be added to the list of airports receiving new layers of entry screening. I am pleased that this request is being considered for implementation. We do not want to promote hysteria but preparedness.
The current Ebola outbreak is the deadliest outbreak of record. According to the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations it is also impairing national economies wiping out livelihoods and basic services and could undo years of efforts to stabilize West Africa. Eliminating this virus at its source is a surefire way to prevent more Ebola cases in the United States.
As citizens of the global community it is our moral obligation to not only eradicate this virus that is devastating West Africa but also ensure that these countries can continue to function and recover. The United States response to the current Ebola outbreak will affect the way it works to coordinate international responses to future disease outbreaks. In this case it seems as if the US and the international community did not act aggressively soon enough.
Cuts to public health preparedness grants from the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of the Surgeon General hit already struggling state and local health departments hard. As Members of Congress we can use our platforms to restore grant funding and support the federal costs of maintaining a public health infrastructure. I hope that our discussions today yielded a step in this direction."
Ebola is now an epidemic that has reached the shores of the United States and is an epidemic of the likes that we have not seen before. It is spiraling out of control in Africa and we must make sure that does not happen here in the United States. Today thousands of people in West Africa are infected. That number could rapidly grow to tens of thousands. And if the outbreak is not stopped now we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people infected with profound political and economic and security implications for all of us. So this is an epidemic that is not just a threat to regional security it is a potential threat to global security if these countries break down if their economies break down if people panic. That has profound effects on all of us even if we are not directly contracting the disease."
