President Obama acknowledged that “we don’t have a lot of margin for error” when it comes to counteracting Ebola, but he emphasized that the likelihood of an outbreak in the United States is “extremely low.”

“The American people are reasonably concerned — Ebola is a terrible disease, and the fact that in an interconnected world infectious disease can be transported across borders is one of the reasons we have to take it seriously,” Obama told state and local health professionals on a Wednesday conference call. “At the same time, as I think all of us have tried to emphasize, it’s important that, as public officials, we know and reinforce the facts. Because we’ve got a world-class medical system, because we’ve put in place tough safety measures, because of the work that many of you have done in conjunction with organizations like the CDC and dealing with infectious disease generally, and because of the nature of Ebola and the fact that it’s not something involving airborne transmission, the chance of an Ebola outbreak in the United States remains extremely low.”

Obama added that the government is implementing additional screening measures for travelers coming from countries plagued by the disease.

“But as we saw in Dallas, we don’t have a lot of margin for error. If we don’t follow protocols and procedures that are put in place, then we’re putting folks in our communities at risk,” he said. “So we have to follow the procedures and protocols that have been established based on the science.”