Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said the U.S. government did not sufficiently respond to the Ebola crisis in the United States.
"We could have done much better [on] the oversight of the the implementation of the protocols," Burwell told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Wednesday.
Burwell said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a "full team" to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, where Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed and treated for Ebola.
Burwell lamented that the implementation of protocols to treat Ebola patients and protect health care workers could have been more robust.
According to the Washington Post, CDC Director Tom Frieden said, "I think we could, in retrospect, with 20/20 hindsight, have sent a more robust hospital infection control team and been more hands-on with the hospital from day one about exactly how this should be managed."
Burwell underscored her "confidence" in the CDC and Frieden moving forward.
A second health care worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was diagnosed with Ebola on Wednesday.