Perry Returning Early From Europe to Direct Ebola Response

President Obama is not the only one changing travel plans to deal with the Ebola epidemic.

Gov. Rick Perry is canceling the final leg of his Europe trip and returning to Texas to help coordinate the response to the outbreak, now that a second case among health care workers has occurred in his state.

Felix Browne, a spokesman for Mr. Perry, said that the governor was keeping in close touch with state and federal health departments, but that he would be convening meetings in person after he returns on Thursday.

Mr. Perry, who gave a speech in London on Tuesday, is traveling in Poland and was due to go to Ukraine later this week before returning on Sunday.

The trip was widely seen as a way for Mr. Perry to burnish his foreign policy credentials in the event that he decides to make another run for president in 2016.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Perry sought to reassure residents of his state that the Ebola situation was being handled with competence.

“Once we have put it behind us, we will be the stronger for it and more prepared to meet the kinds of challenges that we as Americans are uniquely prepared to face,” Mr. Perry said in a statement from Europe.