The California Department of Public Health has established an Ebola hotline to calm panicked residents, as two Sacramento-area residents are being monitored for possible symbols of the deadly hemmorhagic fever. In a statement Tuesday, state public health director Dr. Ron Chapman said that the Ebola hotline, 855-421-5921, had been established “to answer questions from those concerned about the possibility of Ebola in California.”
Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown said that he did not wish to see California repeat mistakes that were made in Texas, where a private hospital that encountered the first Ebola case in the U.S. fumbled the treatment and failed to inform and reassure the public. A statement by the California Department of Public Health notes that it has been active since August in preparing hospitals in the state for detecting and treating Ebola patients.
With conflicting messages from federal health officials, and unexpected new cases of Ebola among two nurses treating the first patient–one of whom traveled across the country after showing signs of a raised temperature–public fear about the disease is nearing a fevered states. Sacramento-area Fox affiliate KTXL provided footage of the Ebola hotline call center (above), showing a variety of state agencies with representatives in the same room.
In August, a patient who may have been exposed to Ebola was monitored at the Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center. Though that patient tested negative for the disease, the crisis prompted local hospitals and state officials to begin preparations for a possible outbreak. The two area residents who are being monitored are required to measure their own vital statistics and report their status daily to health officials.
Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak edits Breitbart California and is the author of the new ebook, Wacko Birds: The Fall (and Rise) of the Tea Party, available for Amazon Kindle.
Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelpollak