The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 35 U.S. hospitals have been designated as Ebola treatment centers.
The hospitals, of which CDC published a list on Dec. 2, are in 12 states and the District of Columbia. The hospitals received their designations from state health departments and after on-site reviews by CDC teams.
“Ebola treatment centers are staffed, equipped, and have been assessed to have current capabilities, training, and resources to provide the complex treatment necessary to care for a person with Ebola while minimizing risk to health care workers,” the CDC said in a news release about the new centers.
More hospitals are expected to be named Ebola treatment centers in the coming weeks, the agency said. The CDC has published guidelines to hospitals and state and local health departments on the preparation of these centers, with standards for patient transportation, laboratories, personal protective equipment, and waste management, among other key areas of capability.
The CDC said that the new centers supplement the existing biocontainment facilities at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., which will continue to play an important role in Ebola treatment – particularly in cases of medical evacuation from overseas.
Some 80% of travelers returning from Ebola-affected countries live within 200 miles of a designated Ebola treatment center, the agency affirmed, and the addition of new facilities in the weeks to come will “further broaden geographic reach.”While Texas is home to two of the designated centers, Texas Health Presbyterian, the Dallas hospital that treated the first Ebola case presenting in the United States, is not currently on the list.
