Dallas mayor: Ebola crisis may ‘get worse before it gets better’

The Ebola crisis in the United States might “get worse before it gets better,” Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Wednesday, after a second health worker tested positive for the deadly virus.

Dr. Daniel Varga, of Texas Health Resources, which oversees the hospital, called Ebola an “unprecedented crisis” and said he did not know how the second worker was infected. 

{mosads}He defended his state’s response at a press conference Wednesday morning, saying, “I don’t think we have a systematic institutional problem.”

No one from the Obama administration was in attendance at the press conference. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday had said it would be setting up rapid response teams to help Dallas and any other area where Ebola breaks out.

Officials said that there are 75 healthcare workers who are being monitored for any sign of symptoms. 

Varga acknowledged he’s searching for answers and said the hospital does have the proper equipment to keep healthcare workers safe.

“We don’t have an answer for this right now, but we are looking at every possible angle,” Varga said.

“It may get worse before it gets better but it will get better,” Rawlings said.

Nina Pham, a Dallas nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, was the first health worker to come down with Ebola. Duncan died last week.

The second health worker lived alone, and officials went door to door in the apartment complex this morning to share information with neighbors, Rawlings said.

“We are not fearful, and I’m pleased and proud of the citizens that I talk to day in and day out knowing that there is hope if we take care and do what is right,” Rawlings said.