“In terms of like a media campaign to get people to donate, have you thought about anything like the ALS ‘ice bucket challenge,’ how that was very successful and were able to — a lot of people … in terms of getting the public involved in that?” one reporter asked Harf. “It doesn’t seem like a lot of people are donating.”

But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now.

“I think what we’re focused on here is what governments can provide,” Harf said. “Both in the form of donations, large donations, but also in the form of expertise, whether it’s doctors, nurses, equipment, gear that can be sent to the region, to help to really contain it in West Africa, which what the experts say is the way, the best way to really do this. So we’re focused from the State Department on what governments can do certainly in that regard.”