CDC Shocks Senator with Ebola Answer: 'It's A Disaster When a Disaster Is Declared'

Tuesday at a joint hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Beth Bell, visibly shocked Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-ML) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) with the admission that to this point only USAID is in charge of running the operation to combat the outbreak.

The USAID is the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, which is the government agency that works to end extreme global poverty. The agency also is in charge of DART,  ‎the deployment Disaster Assistance Response Team, which is meant to be a rapid response team of experts deployable within hours of an emergency.

“‘It’s a disaster when a disaster is declared,” she said.

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