The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may add the names of healthcare workers who are currently under observation for the Ebola virus to the government's no-fly list,
Fox News reported.
According to federal officials, the matter has been under consideration since
news broke Wednesday that a second healthcare worker, Amber Joy Vinson, who ultimately tested positive for the virus, had been cleared by the agency to take a commercial flight even though she had reported an elevated temperature.
New York Magazine reported that the CDC is consulting with the Transportation Security Administration on a possible "do not board list" that would include all those potentially exposed to the virus, but the agency has not been forthcoming with details.
Over 70 workers at the Dallas hospital were involved in the care of Thomas Edward Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. Duncan died on Oct. 8. The Dallas workers are being monitored for any symptoms of the Ebola virus.
CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden has acknowledged that Vinson
should not have been permitted to board the plane and said that anyone involved in Duncan's care cannot travel on public transportation.
In addition, health officials are now trying to track down the
132 passengers who were on the flight with Vinson that flew from Cleveland to Dallas. The CDC is attempting to contact them and has also provided a toll free number for them to use.
"Because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning, CDC is reaching out to passengers who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth Oct. 13,"
the CDC said in a statement.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Frieden was to be questioned during a hearing in Congress about the agency's missteps in responding to Ebola,
The New York Times reported.
Earlier this week, Frieden admitted that the agency should have sent an Ebola response team to Dallas as soon as Duncan's case was identified.
"I wish we had put a team on the ground the day the patient — the first patient — was diagnosed," he said,
according to The Dallas Morning News. "We will do that from today onward with any case anywhere in the U.S."
Frieden also admitted: "We have to rethink how we address infection control, because even a single infection is unacceptable."
Two Republican lawmakers have already called for
Frieden's resignation, as has Fox News television host Bill O'Reilly. And, in an opinion piece for CNN, physician and medical expert Ford Vox also called on Frieden to resign, saying he should be held accountable for the agency's blunders and his lack of leadership.
President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has sought to
calm public fears of a widespread outbreak, saying that, "The dangers of your contracting Ebola, the dangers of a serious outbreak, are extraordinarily low."
He went so far as to say he hugged and kissed Ebola medical staff and "felt perfectly safe doing so."
Nevertheless, the president canceled his political travel Wednesday to convene a Cabinet meeting about the Ebola crisis, having admitted there were
"shortcomings" in the way the outbreak had been handled so far.
Obama added that he wanted to see procedures changed for any subsequent cases.
"We want a rapid response team, a SWAT team essentially, from the CDC to be on the ground as quickly as possible, hopefully within 24 hours, so that they are taking the local hospital step by step what needs to be done," he said, according to Fox News.