In this Monday, Sept. 29, 2014, file photo, Dr. George Risi, an infectious disease specialist, shows one of St. Patrick Hospital’s three rooms in Missoula, Mont., that are equipped to handle infectious diseases like Ebola.NEW YORK – Public hospitals in New York City are concerned enough about Ebola that they’ve secretly been sending actors with mock symptoms into emergency rooms to test how good the triage staff is at identifying and isolating possible cases.
A small hospital in the Ohio countryside has hung up signs, imploring patients to let nurses know immediately if they have traveled recently to West Africa.
And across the U.S., one of the nation’s largest ambulance companies has put together step-by-step instructions on how to wrap the interior of a rig with plastic sheeting while transporting a patient.
Ebola has yet to infect a single person on U.S. soil – the one confirmed case here involves a man who contracted the virus overseas. But health care providers are worried enough that they are taking a wide variety of precautions.
It isn’t yet clear whether those preparations are overkill, or not nearly enough. But medical officials and health experts say that, at the very least, the scare is giving them a chance to reinforce and test infection control procedures.