Possible Sacramento Ebola Case Transferred To UC Davis Medical Center
DAVIS (CBS13) — For the second time, Sacramento is at the center of an Ebola scare, and health officials are not answering questions on camera.
Security guards wearing masks patrolled the grounds of UC Davis Medical Center on Thursday as medical staff treated a patient with symptoms consistent with Ebola.
Bonnie Castillo with the California Nurses Association says a team of volunteer nurses are working on the patient, following strict Cal OSHA standards.
"The Ebola guidance calls for very strong rigorous training, education and the highest levels of personnel protective equipment," she said. "This is the only state in the nation where we have achieved this so far."
Castillo says the new guidance procedures were issued in November, just a few months after Sacramento's first Ebola scare.
"They feel much better now that these standards also require the hospital to have in place the highest standards of hazmat suits, respirators, all of that is now there and nurses and other direct care providers are actually training on an ongoing basis," she said.
Meanwhile, UC Davis patients and visitors like Diana Walker Smith say they were notified about the isolated patient.
"My husband is in the hospital, I was with him in his room when they were passing out the flyer announcing what was going on," she said.
The possible Ebola patient first went to Mercy General, then was quickly transferred to UC Davis. Mercy closed its emergency room for hours, but other departments still saw patients.
For now, UC Davis officials aren't releasing any more information about the patient.