received from the team that's been working day and night

to make sure that the American people are safe and that we're

dealing effectively with not just the Ebola case here,

but the outbreak and epidemic that's taking place

in West Africa.

A number of things make us cautiously more optimistic

about the situation here in the United States.

First of all, we now have seen dozens of persons who

had initial interaction with Mr. Duncan,

including his family and friends,

and in some cases people who have had fairly significant

contact with him, have now been cleared and we're

confident that they do not have Ebola.

And it just gives, I think, people one more sense of how

difficult it is to get this disease.

These are people, in some cases, who were living with

Mr. Duncan and had fairly significant contact with him.

They, we now know, do not have Ebola.

And so, once again, I want to emphasize to the public:

This is not airborne; you have to have had contact with

the bodily fluids of somebody who is actually showing

symptoms of Ebola, which is why it makes

it so hard to catch, although it obviously is very

virulent if, in fact, you do come into contact

with such bodily fluids.

Our hearts and thoughts and prayers are still

with the two nurses who were affected.

Again, we're cautiously optimistic.

They seem to be doing better, and we continue

to think about them.

I had a chance to talk to a number of their

coworkers at Texas Presbyterian today.

Spirits were good.

People were very proud of the work that they've done,

and understandably so.

Because as I've said before, when it comes to taking care

of us and our families, nobody is more important than the

frontline health workers and nurses in particular

who so often are the ones who have immediate

and ongoing contact with patients.

And they're very proud of what they've done,

and want to make sure that everybody understands

how seriously they take their work and how

important they consider their jobs to be.

In addition, what we've also seen is two American patients,

who got Ebola outside but were brought here

to be treated, have now been cleared.

They have been cured, and we're obviously very happy about that.

I know their families are thrilled about that.

And finally, we also received news that,

according to the World Health Organization,

both Nigeria and Senegal are Ebola-free.

Now, these are countries that are adjoining the three

West African countries that are experiencing the most severe

aspects of this disease.

And again, it gives you some sense that when it's caught

early, and where the public health infrastructure

operates effectively, this outbreak can be stopped.

What we've also been talking about then is dealing with

the particulars of the situations as it arose

in Dallas and what we're doing to making sure that

we don't see a repeat of some of the problems

with the protocols that took place in Dallas.

First of all, with respect to Dallas,

working in coordination with Governor Perry,

Mayor Rawlings and health officials in Dallas and

throughout Texas, we now are very confident that

if any additional cases came up in Texas,

that there is a plan in place where they would go receive

first-class treatment.

And we continue to actively monitor those who remain at risk

because they were involved in Mr. Duncan's treatment --

although a number of them rolled off of the list

of people who could possibly get it today.

And each day, more and more folks are cleared

and can be confident that they don't have Ebola.

We surged resources both to Dallas and to Cleveland,

making sure that the CDC is on the ground so that

if additional cases arise out of the Dallas situation,

as well as the second nurse who flew to Cleveland,

that we're on the ground and we don't repeat any problems

with respect to the protocols that have to be followed.

The CDC has refined and put in place guidelines that will

make sure that both in terms of protective gear and how

it's disposed, and how we monitor anybody who might

have Ebola, that those are tighter.

And our team has spent a lot of time reaching out to hospitals,

doctors, nurses' associations, health care workers.

There were thousands who were trained

at the Javits Center just yesterday, I believe.

And so we're going to systematically and steadily just

make sure that every hospital has a plan;

that they are displaying CDC information that has currently

been provided so that they can step-by-step precautions when

they're dealing with somebody who might have Ebola.

And I'm confident that over the course of several weeks and

months, each hospital working in conjunction with

public health officials in those states are

going to be able to train and develop

the kinds of systems that ensure that people

are prepared if and when a case like this comes up.

And that ultimately is going to be the most important thing.

This is a disease where if it's caught early

and the hospital knows what to do early,

it doesn't present a massive risk of spreading.

But we have to make sure that everybody is aware of it.

And obviously, given all the attention that this

situation has received, as you might expect,

hospital workers and the CEOs of hospitals, and dentists,

and anybody who has contact with potential patients is paying

a lot more attention and is much more open to making

sure that they've got a sound plan in place.

And we're going to be helping everybody

to make sure that they put that plan in place.

In addition, I know that there's been a lot of concern

around the issue of individuals traveling from

the three nations in West Africa that are most affected.

So, as has already been announced,

what's now happening is all flights from those nations

are being funneled into three airports --

or five airports, rather.

Each of those airports have systems in place so that all the

passengers getting off those flights will be monitored.

The CDC announced today that it's going to take some

additional steps to provide information to states so that

they can actively monitor what's taking place with those persons

for a period of 21 days in order to protect the citizens

of their various states, and will continue to put in place

additional measures as they make sense in order to assure

that we don't see a continuing spread of this disease.

And on the international front, the good news is,

is that along with the billion dollars that we are putting

in, we've now seen an additional billion dollars from the world

community to start building isolation units

in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Health workers are beginning to surge there.

We've got 100 CDC personnel on the ground,

as well as more than 500 military personnel.

I should emphasize that our military personnel

is not treating patients.

But what we're doing, which nobody else really has the

capacity to do, is to build the infrastructure --

the logistical systems, the air transport, the construction --

so that, as other countries start making contributions,

they can be confident that it's going to get in where

it's most needed, and it's going to be coordinated effectively.

And we just want to thanks, as always,

our men and women in uniform who are doing

an outstanding job there.

We're already starting to see some very modest signs

of progress in Liberia.

We're concerned about some spike in cases in Guinea.

One of the good things that has come out of all the attention

that this has received over the last several months -- and,

frankly, the coordination of the United States with the

international community -- is that people understand

if we are going to protect all of our citizens globally,

we have to do a better job of getting into these

countries quicker and providing more help faster.

And American leadership has been vital in that entire process.

So the top line, I think the key message I want

to deliver is that although, obviously, people had

concerns with Mr. Duncan -- and our hearts still

go out to his family as well as the two

nurses that were infected -- in fact,

what we're seeing is that the public health infrastructure

and systems that we are now putting in place

across the board around the country should give

the American people confidence that we're going

to be in a position to deal with any additional

cases of Ebola that might crop up without it turning

into an outbreak.

And I want to emphasize again: This is a very hard

disease to get.

And in a country like the United States that has a strong

public health infrastructure and outstanding health workers

and hospitals and systems, the prospect of an outbreak

here is extremely low.

If people want to make sure that as we go into the holiday season

their families are safe, the very best thing they can

do is make sure that everybody in the family

is getting a flu shot.

Because we know that tens of thousands of people

will be affected by the flu this season,

as is true every season.

I'll say one other thing about this.

If there's a silver lining in all the attention that

the Ebola situation has received over

the last several weeks, it's a reminder

of how important our public health systems are.

And in many ways, what this has done is elevated

that importance.

There may come a time, sometime in the future,

where we are dealing with an airborne disease

that is much easier to catch and is deadly.

And in some ways, this has created a trial run for federal,

state and local public health officials and health care

providers, as well as the American people,

to understand the nature of that and why it's so important that

we're continually building out our public health systems but

we're also practicing them and keeping them in tip-top shape,

and investing in them, because oftentimes the best cures to

prevent getting diseases in the first place -- and that's true

for individuals, it's true for the country as a whole.

Thank you very much, everybody.

The Press: Can you say something about Canada?

The President: Oh, thank you very much.

I appreciate -- thank you.

I had a chance to talk with

Prime Minister Harper this afternoon.

Obviously, the situation there is tragic.

Just two days ago, a Canadian soldier had been

killed in an attack.

We now know that another young man was killed today.

And I expressed on behalf of the American people our condolences

to the family and to the Canadian people as a whole.

We don't yet have all the information about what

motivated the shooting.

We don't yet have all the information about whether

this was part of a broader network or plan,

or whether this was an individual or series of

individuals who decided to take these actions.

But it emphasizes the degree to which we have to remain

vigilant when it comes to dealing with these kinds

of acts of senseless violence or terrorism.

And I pledged, as always, to make sure that

our national security teams are coordinating very closely,

given not only is Canada one of our closest allies

in the world but they're our neighbors and our friends,

and obviously there's a lot of interaction between Canadians

and the United States, where we have such a long border.

And it's very important I think for us to recognize that