--- title: "Trump’s former COVID adviser: US equipped to handle response to Ebola outbreak" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/287488856.md" description: "Dr. Deborah Birx, former COVID-19 adviser, stated that the U.S. is equipped to handle an Ebola outbreak despite lacking confirmed leadership in key health agencies. She emphasized the establishment of an interagency Ebola response task force and the expertise available within federal agencies. However, concerns remain regarding the impact of previous cuts to global health programs and the U.S.'s withdrawal from the WHO, as over 500 suspected Ebola cases have emerged in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, prompting a public health emergency declaration by the WHO." datetime: "2026-05-24T19:25:12.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/287488856.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287488856.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/287488856.md) --- # Trump’s former COVID adviser: US equipped to handle response to Ebola outbreak A former adviser to President Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic said Sunday that the U.S. is equipped to handle an Ebola outbreak. “The U.S. right now does not have a confirmed head of the \[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)\], it does not have a confirmed head of the \[Food and Drug Administration (FDA)\], doesn’t have a confirmed Surgeon General. Is the U.S. prepared to deal with an outbreak of Ebola or any other infectious disease, if it comes to our shores?” CBS News’s Nancy Cordes asked Dr. Deborah Birx on “Face the Nation.” “I think it’s a great question and watching how this plays out will be very important. And I’m watching that. They’ve already created an interagency Ebola response task force, and just to reassure the American public, I was in the federal government for 40-plus years and in the military for 29, there’s a deep bench,” Birx, a former White House coronavirus response coordinator during Trump’s first term, told Cordes. “And so, yes, it’s important to have the leads of all of these agencies. I think people have been nominated to at least the CDC, so, I think that’s very important. But we do have a deep bench in many of these agencies, and I really, I know them, they’re great people,” she added. An ongoing Ebola outbreak making its way through central Africa is the first major outbreak since the Trump administration slashed its global health programs and largely stepped back from the world stage last year. The U.S. is sending resources and teams of experts overseas, but public health and infectious disease experts say Trump’s cuts are affecting the response and likely stalled detection of the virus. Last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shut down, and the U.S. moved to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), effective earlier this year. Over 500 suspected cases of the Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) have been reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone and the WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The U.S. is only about six years out from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which left the country reeling as thousands died, the economy suffered and many were isolated due to social distancing. ## Related News & Research - [Huawei Presents Tau Law to Replace Geometric Scaling With Time Scaling in Semiconductor Industry](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287498435.md) - [Sentire(R) Surgical System Receives CE Mark (MDR) and Singapore HSA Dual Certification, Cornerstone Robotics Enters a New Era in its Global Expansion](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287495907.md) - [NFL Biosciences files patent application for NFL-101 smoking-cessation biomarker](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287545510.md) - [Anthropic's Olah says AI must be guided from outside Big Tech](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287520776.md) - [Trailbreaker Resources Prepares to Drill Three Targets and Provides Corporate Update](https://longbridge.com/en/news/287528794.md)