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Bobby Jindal tells Louisiana officials to track Ebola travel

Bobby Jindal is not leaving Ebola management up to the federal government.

Bobby Jindal is not leaving Ebola management up to the federal government.

The Louisiana governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate issued an executive order Monday requiring state officials to develop tracking systems to monitor travel to and from Ebola-stricken countries.

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Why? "[T]he federal government, to date, has failed to implement protections at the national level to prevent the entry of the Ebola Virus Disease into the United States of America," the executive order says. Moreover, Jindal surmises that "it is foreseeable that a public health emergency could result from the occurrence of an outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in this state, and that such a threat can be reduced with the implementation of precautionary, common-sense measures for public employees and students, faculty, and staff of institutions of higher learning who travel to these countries." 

Earlier Monday, the Pentagon announced that it would build, train and implement a 30-person, rapid-response team -- including 20 critical-care nurses, five doctors trained in infectious disease care, and five infectious-disease protocol trainers -- to be deployed in the event of another instance of Ebola occurring in the U.S.  

While the Obama administration and public health officials maintain that implementing a travel ban would render it too difficult to address the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Jindal has continued to press the issue, repeatedly calling for a travel ban between the U.S. and Ebola-stricken nations.

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Earlier this month, Jindal said he would make an announcement about his 2016 presidential candidacy after the 2014 holiday season.