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(Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama is preparing to withdraw most of the U.S. troops sent to West Africa to combat the Ebola outbreak as infection rates in that part of the world have declined significantly in recent months. About 1,500 of the 2,800 U.S. military personnel deployed to assist with supply logistics, construction and training returned in December and just 100 will remain in the region after April 30, the White House said Tuesday in a statement.
The return of the troops and a drop in the number of new infections — from 1,000 new suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases a week in October to about 150 a week in recent reports, according to the White House — marks a turning point for Obama. As the disease spread in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and the first case arrived in the U.S. the administration took a pounding from Republicans for refusing to ban travelers from the region and impose strict quarantines. “Americans should be proud of what we, together as a nation, have accomplished, even as we must not lose sight of the challenges that remain and the urgent tasks ahead,” the White House said in a fact sheet released Tuesday. Obama plans to highlight progress in the fight against the worst Ebola outbreak in history during an event Wednesday in Washington, and the White House released data showing that the U.S. strategy helped “bend the curve” of the epidemic.

Political Challenge

In response to the outbreak, the Obama administration sent U.S. personnel to help treat patients, trace infections, conduct safe burials and educate communities. In Liberia, which was among the countries hardest hit, Americans trained more than 1,500 workers, according to the White House.
While only four of the diagnosed cases were in the U.S., Ebola became a political challenge for Obama last year as fears grew about the contagious virus spreading. At the height of U.S. Ebola panic last year, Governors Chris Christie, a New Jersey Republican and potential 2016 presidential candidate, and Andrew Cuomo, a New York Democrat, seized the national stage with orders to quarantine health workers returning from regions of Africa where Ebola is epidemic.
Governors Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, and Pat Quinn, an Illinois Democrat, both in close re-election contests at the time, soon followed with their own actions, furthering a patchwork of diverging state-by-state policies on quarantines.

Klain Leaving

After criticism that the U.S. response was haphazard, Obama brought former adviser Ron Klain back to the White House to lead his effort to counter Ebola’s spread, mostly at its source in West Africa. Klain’s job is now winding down and the administration previously announced he would leave by March. Obama also gained bipartisan support last year for a $5.4 billion emergency financing request in the fight against Ebola, half of which was dedicated to U.S. efforts to combat outbreaks of infectious diseases. The White House warned Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak hasn’t been completely stanched. “We are encouraged by the declining number of new Ebola cases in West Africa, but remain concerned about a recent increase in cases in Guinea, and an inability to further reduce case counts in Sierra Leone,” the White House said in its statement. “Given that a single case can lead to flare-ups of the virus, we must not lose focus.”

Worldwide Cases

As of Feb. 7, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 22,863 cases of Ebola worldwide related to the outbreak that began last year in West Africa. Of those cases, 9,167 people died with most of those being in Liberia or Sierra Leone. As U.S. attention has moved on to a measles outbreak linked to unvaccinated children, people in West Africa are participating in a vaccine trial to inoculate them against Ebola. A vaccine is being developed through a partnership between the U.S. and Liberia. A rapid Ebola diagnostic test is also being developed.
In a National Security Strategy document released last week, Obama identified Ebola and other deadly viruses as a top national security threat.

To contact the reporters on this story: Annie Linskey in Washington at alinskey@bloomberg.net; Angela Greiling Keane in Washington at agreilingkea@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net Joe Sobczyk, Michael Shepard For more columns from Bloomberg View, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/view