Chad’s Morning Brief: HHS Secretary Says More Ebola Cases Could Happen, Texas Voter ID Law Ruled Unconstitutional, and Other Top Stories

Be prepared for more cases of Ebola. On Thursday the HHS Secretary told reporters that other cases of Ebola may happen according to the Washington Examiner.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell said that despite the best efforts of health officials, Americans have to prepare for the reality that there may be more cases of Ebola in the United States.

“We had one case and I think there may be other cases, and I think we have to recognize that as a nation,” Burwell said at a media breakfast hosted by the journal Health Affairs and held at the Washington, D.C. offices of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Burwell’s comments come as screening of travelers from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa has been stepped up at U.S. airports. On Wednesday, the first patient diagnosed with the virus on U.S. soil died in Texas.

She expressed confidence in the screening process that has already been in place in travelers' departure cities, but acknowledged that no such system is 100 percent.

“The most important place with regard to taking care of screening is actually at the point of departure,” she said. “And that’s been in place for many months and as we know, we have a case. That case sadly is deceased. But for many months, we did not have a case that entered the country. And we know that that screening has worked in the sense of 80 people have been pulled from the lines in the screening and stopped in the home country. And that’s the most important place to do that.”

She said that there was a massive effort at preparing the healthcare system to deal with any cases that may arise.

“What’s most important is we know how to contain," she said. "And that is: detect, contact tracing, isolation, and treatment.”

You can read the entire story by clicking the link above.

Voter ID

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that Texas' Voter ID Law is unconstitutional according to the Texas Tribune.

Less than two weeks before the start of early voting, a federal judge ruled the state’s photo voter ID law unconstitutional late Thursday and ordered state officials to drop the new requirements.

“The Court holds that SB 14 creates an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose,” U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos of Corpus Christi wrote in a 147-page opinion. “The Court further holds that SB 14 constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax.”

A spokeswoman for Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state would immediately file an appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The State of Texas will immediately appeal and will urge the Fifth Circuit to resolve this matter quickly to avoid voter confusion in the upcoming election,” Lauren Bean said in an emailed statement. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that voter ID laws are constitutional so we are confident the Texas law will be upheld on appeal."

Voter ID = a poll tax? Give me a break. As Bean said in her statement, the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in favor of Voter ID.