Should Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director Tom Frieden Be Fired?

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64. Frieden Could Have Sent A Team Sooner

Even Frieden himself said he waited too late to send a rapid response team. Budget cuts did not prevent him from sending a team to Texas. It seems the reality is that the hospital was not prepared to handle an Ebola case. It was not really a case of cutting corners. After Duncan showed up at the hospital the administrators purchased the materials they needed to handle an Ebola case. The proper gear has been ordered, but has not arrived in Dallas. I assume the administrators did not expect to have to deal with an Ebola case.

However, Frieden could have sent a team that had the proper equipment to Texas to deal with the case. Maybe Frieden called the hospital to ask if they felt they could handle the case, but if he did not call the hospital he should have called. He could have talked to the hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses to see if they had everything they needed. He could have made a short visit to the hospital to see how the hospital was handling the case.