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| US President Barack Obama gives a hug to Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House |
A bear hug is worth a thousand
words? President Barack Obama embraced Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the
Oval Office on Friday, shortly after the 26-year-old Dallas nurse was
discharged from the National Institutes of Health.
The White House photo op came as
the Obama administration struggled to reassure jittery Americans that
they should trust medical and scientific authorities and that the deadly
disease does not threaten them.
In a show of faith in the
nation’s elite doctors and scientists, the White House did not subject
Pham to any additional screening before her face-to-face meeting with
the president.
“Ms. Pham was tested five
different times to confirm that she no longer had the virus,” press
secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “So all the necessary testing
that allowed her to safely return home with a clean bill of health is
the same guidance that she has gotten in terms of meeting the
president.”
Earnest also praised New Yorkers
who went about their routines after a Manhattan doctor who had treated
Ebola patients in Guinea came down with the disease. Craig Spencer had
been closely monitoring his health and reached out to authorities when
his temperature spiked. Officials were retracing his movements in the
days before he sought treatment at Bellevue Hospital Center, including a
walk on the High Line elevated park and a subway ride to a Brooklyn
bowling alley.
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