Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado formally announces his candidacy for U.S. Senate at the Denver Lumber Co. on Saturday, March 1, 2014. (Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post)
Republican Cory Gardner will take a one-day break from the U.S. Senate campaign trail to attend an Ebola hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill.
The Yuma congressman is a member of the oversight panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. At the hearing, Gardner will reiterate his call for a ban on all travel from West African countries where the Ebola outbreak is spreading.
“Ebola is a serious health threat and should not be taken lightly,” Gardner said in a statement released Tuesday by his congressional office. “This hearing will give us the opportunity to determine the different routes we can take to prevent the spread of Ebola, including a travel ban on flights to and from the affected countries in West Africa, as well as 100 percent virus screening for passengers whose travels originated from or passed through West Africa.”
Gardner said a travel ban “would help contain the virus and prevent it from being introduced in new places, as we’ve already seen happen in the United States.”
“Our next step,” Gardner continued, “must be to develop a series of deliberate measures designed to restrict the spread of Ebola to keep Coloradans, Americans and the citizens of the world safe from this horrific virus.”
He last week during a campaign debate in Pueblo with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden is expected to testify before the committee, which includes U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver as the ranking Democrat.
Gardner is only expected to stay in Washington for one day to attend the hearing before returning to the campaign in Colorado.
Ebola cases are concentrated in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization the number of cases is reaching near 9,000 with deaths approaching 4,500.
This month, the federal government began screening passengers from West Africa for fever at five U.S. airports. The risk of contracting Ebola remains low, .
