Just a little ditty from our Local Rag, The Oregonian. Now, I'll be honest, the Oregonian has not impressed me much for the last couple of years, but I happened to catch a Dead Tree edition at a coffee shop and read this front page article and, credit where it's due, it's pretty damned good.
Step over the Willamette Rivulet for the story:
Woman visiting from Liberia hospitalized in Portland area being tested for Ebola
O.K., so the headline might be a bit sensational, but the article is actually pretty good:
A Liberian woman who recently arrived in Portland and was monitoring herself for Ebola symptoms under a voluntary program was whisked to the hospital at mid-day Friday with a high temperature.
You see, here in Oregon, we don't freak out about an asymptomatic, non-contagious person that may never become ill (At least not yet. Heh.).
We do, however, have them self monitor, report daily to the county health department:
Since arriving in Portland, the woman had been taking her temperature twice a day and reporting to the Multnomah County Health Department. Until Friday, her temperature had been normal, said Dr. Katrina Hedberg, state health officer. But in the morning it spiked.
And, importantly, we have
a plan!
The county sent medics to her home, including Dr. Jonathan Jui, Multnomah County's emergency services medical director. Dressed in full protective gear, from his head to fingertips to toes, he examined her and decided she should be hospitalized.
O.k, so we've got fair use issues coming up, so I'll just add this-The woman is in isolation at a unit with fully trained, volunteer staff.
The article even goes into how the blood sample would be packaged and sent to the CDC (or other select lab for processing.
One more tidbit, because this paragraph is interesting:
If the test is negative, another will probably be done in three days. Often the virus doesn't show up until the person has been symptomatic for 72 hours.
The woman's movement was not restricted because "there's no rationale for it,"... "She had no symptoms."
The Governor, John Kitzhaber, MD, is keeping tab via reports, but he's a Cool Cat that actually believes in Science and, besides:
State and county health officials said she poses no risk to the public and that the system worked like clockwork.
And THAT'S how it's done, folks!
The whole article is worth a read-it doesn't monger fear, gives a lot of information and is well written.
As a side note, my ex-wife works as a Lab Tech in another major hospital chain in Portland and tells me that they have protocols for drawing blood, transportation of patient and blood and have isolation units and trained staff ready to go. Staff will be limited to 4 hour shifts (as opposed to the normal 10-12 hr shift that nurses work) to prevent mistakes due to fatigue. As I said, this is a competing hospital chain, but I assume that the protocols are similar.