According to Military Times, the number of servicemembers that will be sent to West Africa as part of U.S. efforts to stop the region's Ebola epidemic will be fewer than initially estimated. While originally the Pentagon had stated the mission would require 4,000 troops, that number has been reduced to 3,000.
Currently, 2,200 American military members are on the ground in Liberia and Senegal, helping the nations cope with the outbreak. The mission, dubbed Operation United Assistance, has been focused on building medical treatment facilities and training local health workers.
Politico reported that the reduction in troops is mostly because U.S. officials underestimated the scope of resources already available in the infected areas.
"There's a lot of capacity here we didn't know about before.That enabled us to reduce the forces we thought we originally had to bring," stated Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, to reporters at the Pentagon via satellite from West Africa.
There have also been fewer reported cases in Liberia, though the disease is still spreading and remains a very real threat. Military Times noted that many other regions are still seeing increasing numbers of diagnoses every day.
U.S. officials are also doing everything they can to prevent the disease from entering the U.S. again, since the country currently has zero active cases. Although troops will not be treating infected patients in West Africa directly, those deployed to the region will undergo a 21-day quarantine upon their return home. Military Times noted that this exceeds the general precautionary standards put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While infectious disease safety is being thoroughly practiced by the soldiers sent to fight the disease, Military officials decided to take the extra step to ensure that there will be no health risk to the American people.