As Ebola treatments and vaccines have been gaining ground as of late, fear and anxiety over the spread of the disease have been slowly allaying in communities around the world.
In the U.S., more hospitals are gaining more confidence in accommodating Ebola-stricken patients, and this can be seen in the growing number of health institutions accredited by health officials as Ebola treatment centers. Some 35 hospitals have been designated as treatment centers and these hospitals have been assessed as capable of treating Ebola patients while minimizing risk to staff, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The staff are said to have been trained in infection control, use of personal protective equipment and removal of waste from patient rooms-all necessary skills that would help contain the disease while treating those who are already infected.
Of the 50 hospitals evaluated by CDC in 15 states, the following are official Ebola treatment centers:
1. Kaiser Oakland Medical Center; Oakland, California
2. Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center; Sacramento, California
3. University of California Davis Medical Center; Sacramento, California
4. University of California San Francisco Medical Center; San Francisco, California
5. Emory University Hospital; Atlanta, Georgia
6. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago; Chicago, Illinois
7. Northwestern Memorial Hospital; Chicago, Illinois
8. Rush University Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois
9. University of Chicago Medical Center; Chicago, Illinois
10. Johns Hopkins Hospital; Baltimore, Maryland
11. University of Maryland Medical Center; Baltimore, Maryland
12. National Institutes of Health Clinical Center; Bethesda, Maryland
13. Allina Health's Unity Hospital; Fridley, Minnesota
14. Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota; St. Paul, Minnesota
15. Mayo Clinic Hospital; Minneapolis, Minnesota
16. University of Minnesota Medical Center, West Bank Campus, Minneapolis;Rochester, Minnesota
17. Nebraska Medicine; Omaha, Nebraska
18. North Shore System LIJ/Glen Cove Hospital; Glen Cove, New York
19. Montefiore Health System; New York City, New York
20. New York-Presbyterian/Allen Hospital; New York City, New York
21. NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation/HHC Bellevue Hospital Center; New York City, New York
22. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital; New Brunswick, New Jersey
23. The Mount Sinai Hospital; New York City, New York
24. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
25. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
26. University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston; Galveston, Texas
27. Methodist Hospital System in collaboration with Parkland Hospital System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Richardson, Texas
28. University of Virginia Medical Center; Charlottesville, Virginia
29. Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center; Richmond, Virginia
30. Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
31. Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin-Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin
32. UW Health-University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison, and the American Family Children's Hospital, Madison; Madison, Wisconsin
33. MedStar Washington Hospital Center; Washington, DC
34. Children's National Medical Center; Washington DC
35. George Washington University Hospital; Washington DC
"More than 80 per cent of returning travelers from Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa live within 200 miles (320 km) of a designated Ebola treatment center," the CDC said.
In a statement, CDC Director Tom Frieden said, "As long as Ebola is spreading in West Africa, we must prepare for the possibility of additional cases in the United States."
Additional hospitals will be designated by the CDC in the coming days as the government wants to ensure that the country is prepared when Ebola cases arrive in any state in the U.S.
