Obama scraps schedule to convene Ebola meeting with Cabinet

President Obama on Wednesday scrapped a campaign trip to New Jersey and Connecticut after a second Texas healthcare worker was diagnosed with Ebola.

Instead, the president will convene a White House meeting of Cabinet officials from agencies coordinating the government’s response to the Ebola outbreak, press secretary Josh Earnest said. The president is expected to address reporters at the conclusion of that meeting.

{mosads}The announcement came after health officials revealed that a second nurse who treated a Liberian man who succumbed to the disease had tested positive for Ebola. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also revealed that the healthcare worker was diagnosed just hours after flying from Cleveland to Dallas, and that it was reaching out to all 132 passengers on that flight.

The president was originally scheduled to appear at a fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidates and appear at his first public campaign event of the cycle with Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D).

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) said he had spoken with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Wednesday. The Texas governor is also convening a task force on Wednesday to discuss ways his state can improve treatment of and response to the Ebola virus.

The White House could address a number of steps in response to the second diagnosis, including appointing a new Ebola czar tasked with coordinating the interagency response to the virus, which has left nearly 4,500 dead.

On Tuesday, press secretary Josh Earnest pointedly did not rule out such a possibility, arguing the administration has “a very clean line of responsibility” in responding to the viral outbreak.

“There are a lot of agencies that are involved,” Earnest said. “Lisa Monaco is the president’s homeland security adviser and she is the one that, from here at the White House, continues to play the role of coordinating the efforts of all of those agencies. But ultimately each of those agencies understands exactly what they are responsible for and they have experts in this field that can ensure that the American people remain safe.”

The administration could also move to mandate Ebola patients be treated at hospitals with specially-designed biocontainment units, or implement new flight bans on the three West African nations where the disease originated. U.S. officials so far have resisted calls to do so, saying they are concerned travel restrictions would worsen the crisis by cutting off aid and supplies.

Burwell on Wednesday conceded during an interview with “The Today Show” that the federal government could have done a better job providing oversight at the Texas hospital. One national union representing nurses has blasted the conditions at the facility, saying workers were not prepared to treat an Ebola patient and given incomplete protective gear.