Dec. 02--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that 35 hospitals around the country were now staffed and equipped to treat patients with Ebola.
The treatment centers, including four in Northern California, have 53 beds available for patients and have been assessed by the CDC's Rapid Ebola Preparedness team, according to the CDC.
Additional facilities will be added in the next several weeks, according to the CDC.
"As long as Ebola is spreading in West Africa, we must prepare for the possibility of additional cases in the United States," the CDC's director, Tom Frieden, said in a statement.
With the new treatment facilities in place, more than 80% of travelers arriving in the U.S. from West Africa will now enter the country within 200 miles of a treatment center, officials said. Travelers who show signs of Ebola infection will be transported to these hospitals by ambulance.
The treatment centers have been designated by federal and state health officials as having the training and resources to provide complex treatment while minimizing risk to healthcare workers, according to the CDC.
The four hospitals in California are Kaiser Oakland Medical Center, Kaiser South Sacramento Medical Center, UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and the UC San Francisco Medical Center.
Other hospitals are located in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
