WILMINGTON, Del. – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, issued the following statement Tuesday after the European Union pledged to increase its contribution to $1.27 billion in assistance to fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
“Yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cleared 43 Americans who had been quarantined in Texas after coming into contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the World Health Organization announced that Nigeria is now Ebola-free, and Emory University discharged a third American who had been infected with Ebola while in West Africa. These three milestones were important steps in the worldwide response to Ebola. We can defeat this virus if we work together.
“The European Union today doubled its commitment to stopping the Ebola epidemic, taking a more appropriate level of responsibility for halting the spread of this virus. EU member countries now must heed that call, step up, and deliver. These countries and others in the international community have the resources to do more and a responsibility to prevent this outbreak from spreading.
“The EU also did what the U.S. should continue to do: reject a travel ban. Leaders in the EU recognized that a ban on air passengers from West Africa would only make it harder to identify and isolate those traveling with the virus. The Obama Administration should similarly resist politicized calls for a ban here in the United States.”