Two Philly Hospitals Designated for Ebola Treatment

Remember early last month when it seemed like the Ebola virus might devastate America? When one person died, a few more got sick, and we all panicked, a little, on the inside? That was so November.

Anyway, the disease has kind of receded from the domestic headlines, but the federal government is still working on its response — just in case the next outbreak is a little bigger and scarier than the first one. Today, the Department of Health and Human Services designated 35 hospitals across the country as “Ebola treatment centers,” and two of them are in Philadelphia: Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania and Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

HHS explained in a press release:

Hospitals with Ebola treatment centers have been designated by state health officials to serve as treatment facilities for Ebola patients based on a collaborative decision with local health authorities and the hospital administration.

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.

More than 80 percent of returning travelers from Ebola-stricken countries live within 200 miles of an Ebola treatment center. During their active monitoring, state or local public health authorities communicate every day with potentially exposed individuals to check for symptoms and fever for the 21 day incubation period of the Ebola virus.

HHS added that the hospitals Ebola treatment center has been assessed on-site by a CDC Rapid Ebola Preparedness team.