President Obama addressed the media late Wednesday after having convened a meeting with Cabinet agencies coordinating the government's Ebola response.
"I want people to understand that the dangers of you contracting Ebola, the dangers of a serious outbreak in this country are extraordinary low, but we are taking this very seriously at the highest levels of government," Obama said while flanked by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice.
Obama had postponed a campaign trip to the northeast in order to meet with the officials Wednesday afternoon.
The president sought to quell nationwide fears about the deadly outbreak, and noted that the CDC would be sending rapid response teams to any site within the U.S. where an Ebola diagnosis was made.
"I want to use myself as an example, just so people have a sense of the science here: I shook hands with, hugged and kissed, not just the doctors, but a couple of the nurses at Emory (hospital in Atlanta) because of the valiant work they did," said Obama. "And I felt perfectly safe in doing so."
Obama had been scheduled to attend a fundraiser in New Jersey and a campaign rally in Connecticut — his first public political event of the midterm cycle.
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