Key facts
- Most of the 13 U.S. treatment centers in the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center network are ready to receive Ebola patients.
- Nine of the 13 centers confirmed they are able to receive patients exposed to Ebola.
- The U.S. State Department plans to quarantine asymptomatic Americans exposed to Ebola in Kenya.
- Protests at the Kenya site have led to at least two deaths, and a Kenyan court ordered a block to construction.
- The U.S. has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in preparing its health system for Ebola since the 2014 outbreak.
Most of the 13 U.S. treatment centers within the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) network are prepared to handle patients with severe infectious diseases, including Ebola, if necessary. Representatives from these hospitals stated their readiness this week. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the network's preparedness for outbreak response. This readiness comes as the U.S. State Department's plan to build a quarantine facility in Kenya for asymptomatic Americans exposed to the virus faces significant challenges, including protests that have resulted in at least two deaths and a Kenyan court order blocking construction. The U.S. has invested substantial funds, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars since the 2014 West Africa outbreak, into preparing its domestic health system and this network of treatment centers. The NETEC facilities are required to be capable of caring for at least two patients with exposure to a contagious viral hemorrhagic fever, with regular personnel training, lab testing capabilities, and personal protective equipment on hand. Public health experts have voiced concerns about the Kenya quarantine plan, suggesting that bringing sick Americans home for treatment in prepared U.S. facilities would pose fewer health risks and could improve recruitment for international relief efforts.