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President Obama said Thursday evening that he may consider imposing a ban on travel to Ebola outbreak areas and appointing an Ebola czar, but that for now he is focused on screening travelers for the disease.

Obama said he is worried a travel ban may encourage sick people to hide their illness, resulting in more cases rather than less.

Still, Obama said he might consider it "if experts recommend it.

And after the initial flurry of effort to contain Ebola has passed, Obama said, he also may think about naming one person to run the operation, rather than continuing to rely on the agency leaders and top advisors who are overseeing aspects of it.

It may make sense for us to have one person to have a more regular process just to make sure that were crossing all the Ts and dotting all the Is, he said.

The remarks followed an Oval Office meeting with those point people, including National Security Advisor Susan Rice and Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The meeting was Obamas second in as many days with top health officials as he steps up his public response to Ebola in an effort to alleviate Americans growing concerns about the deadly disease and health authorities ability to contain it.

Obama assembled the group after a contentious congressional hearing during which Frieden defended the CDCs sometimes-faltering response to the three U.S. cases of Ebola.

The president, who skipped campaign trips to focus on the threat, also authorized the Department of Defense to send National Guard and reserve troops to West Africa in case theyre needed to respond to the Ebola crisis there. The U.S. had already said it would send as many as 4,000 military troops to give logistical support and build treatment centers.

Obama said he is calling other world leaders to ask them to increase their pledges of equipment and personnel, and making sure that the U.S. is getting all its workers on the ground as quickly as possible.

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Obama says he might consider appointing 'czar' to oversee Ebola fight