White House on Ebola preparation: ‘Tremendous progress’ as more hospitals equipped to handle virus

The Obama administration boasted Tuesday it has made “tremendous progress” in the fight against Ebola since the first U.S. case landed in Dallas about two months ago, dramatically increasing the number of hospitals and labs to treat patients and test for the deadly virus that has killed about 5,000 in West Africa.

Ron Klain, the country’s Ebola “czar,” reported to the White House that hospital capacity increased from eight beds in three facilities to 53 beds at 35 designated Ebola treatment centers across the country.

Forty-two labs in three dozen states can test for Ebola now, compared to 13 labs in 13 states in August.

He also noted the completion of phase one clinical trials for the first vaccine to treat Ebola, a development President Obama is set to address from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. later on Tuesday.

Recapping prior efforts, Mr. Klain noted that travelers from the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea must travel through one of five international airports, where they are subject to enhanced screening for symptoms of the viral disease.

The Health and Human Services Department said more than 80 percent of travelers from hard-hit countries live within 200 miles of a designated Ebola treatment center, and that state and local health officials are monitoring these people for 21 days after their arrival.

“As long as Ebola is spreading in West Africa, we must prepare for the possibility of additional cases in the United States,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We are implementing and constantly strengthening multiple levels of protection, including increasing the number of hospitals that have the training and capabilities to manage the complex care of an Ebola patient. These hospitals have worked hard to rigorously assess their capabilities and train their staff.”

The CDC released a list Tuesday of the 35 designated Ebola treatment centers scattered across the country.

So far only two people have contracted Ebola within the U.S. — a pair of nurses who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian who came to Dallas in late September, developed symptoms and died Oct. 8.

Both nurses were treated and cured.