Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Movin' On Up: Now the US will have 53 Ebola-ready hospital beds/ WaPo

I guess 53 beds (located in 35 hospitals) is progress, but not a lot of progress... when you consider that in Africa there have been more than 53 cases from a single town. From the WaPo:
... The 35 designated hospitals will have total treatment capacity of 53 beds.
In trying to establish a network of hospitals, U.S. officials have run into reluctance from facilities worried about steep costs, unwanted attention and the possibility of scaring away other patients.
The reticence, although perhaps not surprising, complicates government efforts to ensure that the country can effectively treat people with Ebola and contain possible outbreaks.
Until October, only a few facilities in the United States with special biocontainment units, which are ideal for treating Ebola, were able to care for patients. And they could only handle two or three patients at a time... 
In addition to the 35 hospitals that have already been designated, officials want to establish at least another 20 facilities, the official said. When that can be done will depend on how quickly Congress approves the emergency request... 
“This is a big step forward in terms of domestic preparedness in terms of any Ebola cases that might arrive here,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the list had not been made public. 
However, the list was made public at the exact same time (11:15 am Dec.2) the WaPo story was posted.  Why do administration officials so often refuse to identify themselves?

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