New York’s mayor says that medical workers who transported a doctor fighting Ebola are the equivalent of the U.S. Navy’s elite SEALS.

Mayor Bill de Blasio visited a fire department EMS crew on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Tuesday. Emergency medical workers had taken Dr. Craig Spencer to the Bellevue Hospital Center last week.

Spencer tested positive for Ebola after returning from West Africa where he had worked with patients.

The mayor says EMS workers demonstrated teamwork and exuded a spirit of calm.

He also called the New Jersey nurse who returned from West Africa a “hero.”

New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said New York City crews have been ready for months for the possibility of transporting an Ebola patient, and they followed all the procedures of avoiding infection.

(AP)