New York Subway and University Campuses Will Carry Out Simulation Exercises to Prevent Ebola

The authorities tighten prevention measures in the face of mass fear.

Convinced that at any moment it may have to confront a case of Ebola by virtue of being the state that receives more foreign travelers than any other in the country, New York state has turned its disease prevention measures up a notch. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered surprise, rapid-response simulation exercises for the spread of the disease in large transit hubs, such as the New York City subway and the state’s university campuses. The simulation exercises, which have already been carried out in medical centers with simulated patients, aim to prepare a team that has little or no experience with infectious diseases that require strict safety and isolation protocols.

Cuomo has designated eight hospitals for training isolation teams for treating any possible cases. Four of these are in New York City — Mount Sinai, New York Presbyterian, Bellevue and Montefiore — the rest are in other places around the states — North Shore/LIJ Health System in Nassau County, Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, University of Rochester Medical and Stony Brook University Hospital in Long Island. “We are operating with the idea that, one way or another, we will have to confront Ebola,” Cuomo stated. In any case, he explained, “the anxiety is higher than the probability” of a dangerous outbreak in New York.

“We’ll run drills where someone is on a New York City subway train, and that person becomes ill under circumstances one might think that person might be an Ebola candidate, how do you handle the case from the New York City subway system to an ambulance to the right hospital? Those practical drills are going to be what we’re moving to, on an unannounced basis,” the governor explained, without giving details as to how the drills would be carried out, nor how often. He did, however, highlight the merit of the subway workers, “It’s not what you sign up for when you’re a transit worker, this is their courage.” Apart from the drills, workers from the New York subway and other places of mass transportation, such as ferries, train stations and all state airports, non-international airports included, will have a medical team and the necessary protection to confront any eventuality.

Thomas Prendergast, the CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, explained that drills will allow the practice of protocols for managing potentially infected materials and for transporting patients from a very busy place to one of the designated hospitals. The authorities gave no opinion on the possibility that, given the familiarity of citizens with images of health personnel wearing high-security protective gear, a drill could unleash panic on the subway. Cuomo noted that a dose of anxiety could be healthy, “but we have to watch what we say and how we say it, because panic is never productive.”

All of the state’s hospitals, even those that have not been designated as treatment centers, are being trained to identify cases of Ebola and respond efficiently to such an event. On Oct. 21, The State Department of Health will hold a special training session in New York for health workers, which will include demonstrations on the management of protection equipment.

New prevention measures have coincided with the death of a Nigerian passenger aboard a plane flying from Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, to New York. Despite ruling out Ebola infection in the deceased, the news re-ignited demand for the restriction of flights from West Africa. As of last Thursday, 133 people from this part of the world had been taken to New York Bellevue hospital from Kennedy Airport under the suspicion that they may be infected with the virus. None of them tested positive.

In the last high-level cabinet meeting, President Barack Obama confirmed that he had no political objection to a restriction on flights from West Africa, only that experts consider it to be a useless measure that would harm the fight on the ground against the disease. It is estimated that 150 passengers a day arrive in the U.S. from the three most affected countries — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — among whom 40 percent land in New York and 20 percent in Washington, D.C.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to launch a campaign to reduce anxiety in the population and avoid any kind of panic. As such, municipal authorities are in touch with representatives of the New York African community, which has stated that it feels stigmatized by the preventative measures. The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, as well as the New York Police Department and the state Sheriff’s Association, are coordinating among themselves so that all agents know the protocols for cases of infection.