Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Jay Bhattacharya defended the Trump administration’s response to the Ebola outbreak Thursday, writing in The Wall Street Journal that the measures being taken are scientifically stronger than those implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Bhattacharya said the COVID-19 public health response measures such as “lockdowns,” school closures, and mask and vaccine mandates “made little scientific sense.” 

“By contrast, the measures the U.S. is taking to address this Ebola outbreak—with its high mortality rate and known transmission methods—are scientifically justified, sensitive to the epidemiological facts and specifically tailored to contain the outbreak,” Bhattacharya wrote. 

Bhattacharya said the top priority of the administration is to prevent Ebola from being imported into America. 

Shortly after the first cases we identified, the departments of Homeland Security as well as Health and Human Services (HHS) barred entry to non-U.S. passport holders who had traveled to Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. 

“Requiring aliens traveling from these countries to spend at least 21 days elsewhere before entering the U.S. will greatly reduce the risk of importation,” Bhattacharya wrote. 

Infectious disease experts argued border closures don’t stop the spread of viruses and pointed to the administration’s longstanding attacks on immigrants. 

“Public health policies that single out non-U.S. citizens won’t prevent viruses from crossing our borders. Diseases don’t recognize passports,” the Infectious Disease Society of America said last month. 

More controversially, Bhattacharya defended the administration’s plan to send Americans exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home.  

“The facility provides a location to quarantine Americans who are at risk of developing Ebola, as well as the capacity to provide ICU-level care for those who get sick. Each patient will receive a customized care plan, and forward transport will be arranged as appropriate based on clinical needs,” Bhattacharya wrote. 

The facility is to be staffed by U.S. Public Health Service officers, including doctors experienced in treating Ebola. 

Those plans are currently on hold after Kenya’s High Court last week suspended the facility’s establishment and the arrival of any foreign patients, pending the hearing of a lawsuit filed by the Law Society of Kenya and a constitutional watchdog. 

On Tuesday, the High Court extended the ban and directed the country’s government to provide details about its agreement with the United States.