The Long Beach Health Department has met with the “big five hospitals” in Long Beach and discussed the readiness of each for any cases of Ebola, according to a press release. They have said that, should a case of Ebola present itself, they will be able to “identify and diagnose any suspected Ebola case, isolate any patient with a confirmed diagnosis, provide appropriate care with strict infection control, and work with those who have had contact with the patient.”
“We do not anticipate an outbreak of Ebola to occur here, however if a suspected case of Ebola should occur, the Health Department is well-prepared and equipped to swiftly respond,” City of Long Beach Health Officer Mitchell Kushner said. “The Health Department has been actively preparing for a possible case of Ebola in Long Beach. We are confident that the level of precaution required to protect against Ebola is well within the capabilities of hospitals in Long Beach.”
Kushner also briefed CSULB Student Health Services about the procedures involved with a suspected case of Ebola. The first step is to identify the potential exposure. In addition to the symptoms that might be present, a travel record of the patient is needed in order to determine if there was any potential exposure. Isolation of the patient and calling the Public Health Department are the next steps in limiting the potential exposure for other students or faculty.
Other schools in the Cal State University System have indicated that they are also operating under the same guidelines. At Cal State Fullerton, Staff Physician Richard Bourcher said if a patient presented symptoms, their focus would be to isolate the patient and keep the doctors safe with personal protective equipment. Knowing how to use the gear and remove it properly would need to be taught to the staff, Bourcher said.
At the Port of Long Beach, there is minimal concern about Ebola. Art Wong, the assistant director of communications, said that ship screenings are under the purview of the Coast Guard, but since the port receives no vessels from West Africa, there is little focus on the Port of Long Beach. He added that ships from that region make port along the East Coast.
For travelers by plane, the Department of Homeland Security has made Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Dulles International Airport in Virginia, Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and Newark International Airport in New Jersey the sole receivers of flights from West Africa. Even before the protocols, LAX did not receive any direct flights from Africa, according to Nancy Castles, the airport’s public relations director. She added that although passengers could connect from one of the five airports, there is enhanced passenger screening in place at those airports because travelers from the region pose a concern for the global community.
Since the discovery of Ebola in 1976, Africa has faced outbreaks of Ebola fairly consistently. According to the CDC, the continent has seen outbreaks almost annually in a number of countries since 2000. These outbreaks have had various rates of infection, with as many as 425 people infected in Uganda in 2000 and as few as one patient in 2011 (also in Uganda).
Yet these previous outbreaks pale in comparison to what is happening now. To date, the CDC has reported 4655 cases of Ebola, the vast majority in West Africa, and 2431 deaths. Both the number of cases and the number of deaths are greater than all other previously reported outbreaks in every country combined.
With no treatment for Ebola approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the CDC said that treatment is limited to attacking the symptoms as they present themselves. Additionally, care involves intravenous fluids and maintaining oxygen and blood pressure. This lack of treatment options contributes to a fatality rate of around 50 percent, according to the World Health Organization.
Though the vast majority of cases worldwide have been limited to Africa, there is still a concern among Americans about the possibility of infection. A Gallup poll released yesterday said that 24 percent of Americans fear contracting Ebola themselves, and 5 percent consider Ebola to be the top problem in the country.
Emily Rasmussen and Paige Pelonis also contributed to this story.