HOUSTON, Texas — President Obama has cancelled political travel to hold a meeting regarding the Ebola outbreak, but Governor Rick Perry is still on on his trip in Europe and has not announced any plans to cut the trip short. This week the governor is on a previously-scheduled trip to Europe, despite a third case of Ebola being diagnosed in Dallas.
Perry will be visiting England, Germany, Poland and Ukraine to spreading his message of economic prosperity and explore opportunities to expand the export of natural gas from Texas to Europe.
He left for the trip shortly after Nina Pham, a Texas nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, was diagnosed with Ebola.
Amid the diagnosis of a second nurse, Perry relayed no intentions of returning to Texas to deal with the situation. Instead, he issued a statement.
In the statement, which was obtained by Breitbart Texas, Perry said, “The diagnosis of a second health care worker in Dallas reaffirms what a formidable foe this virus is. I am in daily contact with Dr. Brett Giroir and Dr. David Lakey and earlier today spoke with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell to ensure state and federal management of this issue is tightly coordinated.”
He continued, “This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this. Everyone working on this challenge — from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection – is working to end the threat posed by this disease. These individuals are keeping the health and safety of Texans and the needs of the patients as their most critical tasks. Every relevant agency at the local, state and national levels is working to support these individuals.”
In the face of his statement, Perry’s absence from Texas questions how seriously he takes the threat of a potential Ebola outbreak.
Last week the governor dismissed the notion that a travel ban from West African countries afflicted by Ebola would help prevent the virus from spreading in the United States.
Simultaneously, President Obama cancelled a fundraiser trip, in which he planned to visit New Jersey and Connecticut, to meet with his Cabinet about the Ebola threat.
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