Portsmouth Daily-Times - Johnson Discusses Ebola With CDC Director

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U.S. Representative Bill Johnson quizzed the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, Dr. Thomas Frieden about his knowledge about the preparedness of hospitals in our area to handle an Ebola breakout. Johnson questioned Frieden on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon.

"Do you know of any hospitals in Eastern and Southeastern Ohio that have participated in any kind of real-world scenario of an Ebola outbreak?" Johnson asked.

"I cannot speak to that specific example," Frieden responded.

"Let me go further. You mentioned that 150 per day roughly are coming in from West Africa. Let me give you a scenario," Johnson said. "Let's say a person comes in to the country from West Africa, and let's say that everything in the screening process works right. They may be on day 14 of having been exposed to Ebola in West Africa. They show up with symptoms and go through the screening process and then go to wherever they may go. Day 17 or 18, they start getting ill and start seeing a spike in their temperature. If they went into any emergency room in Appalachia Ohio and start throwing up and having symptoms, does your plan identify that can tell hospital emergency room what to do in that scenario? They don't know that person came from Liberia or any other place."

Frieden responded with - "We have detailed checklists and algorithms we have provided widely to health care workers throughout the country to determine if there is an outbreak of Ebola and if they do, to call for help, and we will be there."

In a recent interview by the Daily Times, three facilities all reported they were prepared to deal with any Ebola pandemic. King's Daughters Medical Center, Southern Ohio Medical Center and Adena Medical Center, all responded to questions from the Times as to their preparedness and each said they have a protocol in place and have met and trained for an eventuality.

"This is not about politics or international diplomacy. This is about public health and protecting the safety of the American people, particularly our health care workers who are some of the high-risk folks to be exposed," Johnson told Frieden. "One of my main concerns is we don't know what we don't know. Throughout testimony and questioning today, I have heard you say multiple times I don't know the details of this, I don't know the details of this. I think what the American people are wanting is some assurance that somebody does know the details. Do we know yet how the two health care workers contracted the virus? Was it a breakdown in the protocol? Was it a breakdown in the training of the protocol? Do we know the protocol works?"

"The investigation is ongoing We have identified possible causes," Frieden explained.

"So we don't know. We don't know. I get that. We don't know. The people in Ohio are concerned, especially now that we know that one of those health-care workers traveled through Ohio, even spend some time in Akron with family members," Johnson said. "I applaud Governor Kasich's immediate actions to try to address the situation. In my experience as a military war planner, 26 and a half years in the military, and I know we have the military engaged in this process overseas, we don't wait until the bullets start flying to figure out whether our war plan is going to work."

Johnson questioned Frieden during the House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations' "Examining the U.S. Public Health Response to the Ebola Outbreak" hearing.

Like so many of the challenges we face, ending this epidemic requires proactive leadership in the form of a comprehensive strategy and focused execution. Given the rapid spread of the virus, there's no time to waste.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Rob Portman says there are five simple steps to accomplishing the goal of containing Ebola and preventing spread of the deadly disease.

First is one I have been calling for since the summer--that the president appoint a single, accountable, high-ranking official to coordinate the many federal agencies tasked with moving quickly to contain the Ebola epidemic.
Second, to provide immediate assistance to West Africa, there should be an Ebola Fund established that has the stamp of approval and support from the U.S. government.
Third, we must be better prepared for any new domestic cases of Ebola by establishing regional infectious disease centers.
Fourth, the administration should do more at our ports of entry and border to keep those with Ebola from coming into our communities and infecting others.
Fifth, the administration should be investing in innovation to help detect, treat and cure this infectious disease and others that will surely follow.
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