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Smiling and looking vibrant, the second of two nurses infected while treating the first Ebola patient in the United States was released from an Atlanta hospital and flew home to Dallas on Tuesday, declared free of the deadly virus.
"I'm so grateful to be well," Amber Vinson, 29, told reporters at Emory University Hospital before hugging the doctors and nurses who had treated her since her Oct. 15 arrival. "And first and foremost I want to thank God."
During an appearance on the White House South Lawn to talk about the U.S. response to Ebola, Obama said he had spoken with Vinson by telephone and that she is "doing well."
The hospital declared Vinson virus-free on Friday, but she spent four more days in the facility before being discharged.
"While this is a day for celebration and gratitude, I ask that we not lose focus on the thousands of families who continue to labor under the burden of this disease in West Africa," said Vinson, smiling broadly and looking vibrant.
Vinson then took a private flight from Atlanta to Dallas but did not speak to reporters upon arrival at the airport, Love Field.
Read: Second Ebola-infected US nurse should not have travelled by plane
The infections of the nurses in a Dallas hospital at the beginning of October illustrated the initial lack of preparedness in the U.S. public health system to deal safely with Ebola, which has killed about 5,000 people in three impoverished West African countries - Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - and raised fears of a wider outbreak.
The other nurse who worked at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Nina Pham, 26, was declared virus-free on Friday, left the Maryland hospital where she had been treated and immediately met with Obama in the White House Oval Office.
Vinson is the fourth patient successfully treated for Ebola at Emory's hospital.
Vinson and Pham treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who had travelled to Dallas in late September. He was the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. He died on Oct. 8.
No risk of spreading virus
"After a rigorous course of treatment and thorough testing, we have determined that Miss Vinson has recovered from her infection with Ebola virus and that she can return to her family, to the community and to her life without any concerns about transmitting this virus to any other individuals," Emory University Hospital's Dr. Bruce Ribner told reporters.
Ribner added, "We all recognize that there is a lot of anxiety, and that is understandable. But the American healthcare system has been successfully able to treat patients with the Ebola virus."
Ribner said a great deal has been learned by Emory's team after treating the four patients with Ebola, particularly concerning things such as fluid and electrolyte management.
He said there is now a changed mindset on how aggressive care providers can be in treating Ebola patients. The general belief had been that patients who were ill enough to require a ventilator or dialysis were likely to die and so those treatments were not worthwhile, he said.
"That is certainly not the case," Ribner said. "I think we have changed the algorithm for how aggressive we are going to be willing to be in the care of patients with Ebola virus disease."
Emory's Ribner also weighed in on the debate over state policies such as those in New York and New Jersey that force medical workers returning after treating Ebola patients in West Africa into a 21-day quarantine. He said states must do "a very delicate balancing act" as they decide whether to quarantine the returning healthcare workers, but "we must not let fear get in the way.
Read more:
African immigrants face ostracism in the U.S as Ebola panic takes hold
New York Ebola victim fooled enhanced airport screening
Thousands of Ebola vaccines to be ready by mid-2015
