Rand Paul: Ebola "Appears To Be Very Easy To Catch"

"I think the first thing we should do is be honest about the disease and I think President Obama's administration has so tried to downplay the transmissibility of this," Paul said.

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says Ebola appears to be very easy to catch, telling Concord News Radio last week that officials need to be honest about the disease.

"A of those mistakes stem from an arrogance that they have that sort of says 'well we known everything about this,'" Paul said of the Centers for Disease Control response to Ebola. "Well they're still learning about this. We're all still learning about this. But this is not something that is hard to catch, this is something that appears to be very easy to catch."

Earlier in the interview, Paul criticized the Obama administration's response to Ebola.

"I think the first thing we should do is be honest about the disease and I think President Obama's administration has so tried to downplay the transmissibility of this and say 'oh it has to be direct fluid contact,'" Paul said. "But then they kind of quietly say well 'you can get direct contact from being three feet from someone.'"

"So really, this is an incredibly contagious disease," he continued. "People in full gloves and gowns are getting it. So really they need to be honest this is a very transmissible disease."

The CDC's guidelines for Ebola say a person "being within approximately 3 feet" is at low risk for contradicting disease if they are there "for a prolonged period of time" and "not wearing recommended personal protective equipment."

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