How Obama Became President Ebola: Ditched CDC Quarantine Regs on Ebola in 2010

How Obama Became President Ebola: Ditched CDC Quarantine Regs on Ebola in 2010

eblIn 2010, the Obama administration abandoned proposed regulations by the Centers for Disease Control, which would have implemented procedures for preventing international travelers from spreading deadly diseases within the U.S. Now, four years later, it is no coincidence that a man infected with Ebola has entered Texas, where he has reportedly come into contact with 100 people. 

According to the The Daily Caller,

The CDC had proposed the regulations in 2005 under the administration of George W. Bush, reported USA Today in 2010. The original impetus for the regulations was fear that avian flu would spread unchecked.

The regulations proposed under the Bush administration would have granted the federal government a power of “provisional quarantine” to confine airline passengers involuntarily for up to three days if they exhibit symptoms of certain infectious diseases. Federal officials would also have been able to quarantine passengers exposed to people with those symptoms.

There was a fairly long list of diseases. It included smallpox, yellow fever, diphtheria, pandemic flu, infectious tuberculosis, cholera — and viral fevers such as Ebola.

Before the Obama administration withdrew the proposed new rules, CDC officials had emphasized that they would only invoke the involuntary “provisional quarantine” when someone exhibiting a set of symptoms refused to work with federal officials voluntarily.

The ACLU and wealthy corporate airline lobbyists opposed the new rules, and so the Obama administration caved. Now Obama’s own State Department is calling to restrict travel from West Africa, but the administration still won’t budge. Even liberal Democrat Rep. Alan Grayson (Fla.) is calling for a 90-day ban. The administration’s position is extremely disturbing, since there have been reputable reports that Ebola may be transmitted as an airborne virus, not just through bodily fluids. Thousands have died already in West Africa.  Obama is playing a deadly game of special interests vs. Americans.

Rachel Alexander

Rachel Alexander is the editor of Intellectual Conservative. She is a senior editor at The Stream, and is a regular contributor to Townhall, the Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research, and The Christian Post, and provides weekend news items for Right Wing News. She frequently appears on TV and news radio as a conservative commentator. She is a recovering attorney and former gun magazine editor. She previously served as a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Arizona, corporate attorney for Go Daddy Software, and Special Assistant/Deputy County Attorney for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. As co-president of the UW Political Science Honor Society, she obtained degrees in Political Science and History from the University of Washington, followed by a law degree from Boston College and the University of Arizona. She was ranked by Right Wing News as one of the 50 Best Conservative Columnists from 2011-2017.

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