President Obama is trying to lead by example as he works to calm public fears about Ebola in the U.S.
Obama
has come into contact with more American Ebola patients, and the
doctors and nurses who treated them, than just about any other American.
For
weeks, the president has repeatedly assured the American people that
the risks of a widespread outbreak are “very, very low.” To hammer home
the point, the president has gone beyond words, to hugs, kisses, and
hand-shakes.
“I want to use myself as an example, just so that
people have a sense of the science here. I shook hands with, hugged and
kissed not the doctors, but a couple of the nurses at Emory, because of
the valiant work that they did in treating one of the patients. They
followed the protocols, they knew what they were doing, and I felt
perfectly safe doing so,” Obama told reporters last month.
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From
meeting with health care professionals who have come in close contact
with the deadly virus to hugging survivors, Obama is using these images
to show the public that his administration’s response to the Ebola
crisis is working.
Obama greeted the first ever American
Ebola patient, Dr. Kent Brantly, in the Oval Office less than a month
after he was declared virus-free.
Pete Souza/The White House
PHOTO: President Barack Obama meets with Dr. Kent Brantly and his wife, Amber, during an Oval Office drop by on Sept. 16, 2014.
He then flew to Emory University Hospital to hug and kiss the nurses and doctors who treated Brantly.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/ Photo
PHOTO:
President Barack Obama, center, is pictured with Emory University
doctors and healthcare professionals during a CDC meeting on Sept. 16,
2014 in Atlanta, Ga.
In late September, Obama
hosted at the White House leaders of Ebola “hot zone” countries and
embraced a Liberian who contracted the disease.
PHOTO:
President Barack Obama, right, greets Dr. Melvin Korkor, left, after
speaking at the Global Health Security Agenda Summit on Sept. 26, 2014
in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has toured the Ebola wards in West Africa, gets a prime seat next to Obama for Oval Office briefings.
PHOTO:
President Barack Obama points toward Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as he speaks to the
media about the government's Ebola response, Oct. 16, 2014, in
Washington.
The same day she was released from a
high-level containment unit for Ebola treatment, nurse Nina Pham gave
Obama a bear-hug in the Oval Office.
PHOTO:
A protester stands outside the White House asking United States
President Barack Obama to ban flights in effort to stop Ebola, in
Washington.
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