As concerns over Ebola continue to grow closer to home, officials are ramping up preparations and preventative measures in Chicago.
Hospitals across the region, including Rush University Medical Center, are holding drills for how to handle the virus and are counting on departments dedicated to managing infection.
"Hospital infection control departments are 24/7 operations," said infection control expert Alex Tomich.
Tomich said Rush University Medical Center plans to be extra cautious when it comes to potential patients.
"Err on the side of caution and isolate and we can talk about it later," he said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel echoed that sentiment earlier Wednesday at a news conference on education.
"We have to make sure we have in place all preventative and safety measures," he said.
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A person who arrived in Dallas from Liberia a week ago tested positive for Ebola Tuesday, becoming the first person diagnosed in the U.S. with the potentially deadly virus, the City of Dallas confirmed.
The patient was hospitalized and placed in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sunday after symptoms appeared four days earlier, on Sept. 24. Hospital officials listed him in serious condition Wednesday after previously being listed in critical condition.
Because the patient showed no symptoms of the virus when he arrived in the U.S. Sept. 20, there was no risk to fellow airline passengers, according to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.
"We’ve stopped every Ebola outbreak that’s ever occurred in Africa expect for this one," he said. And this one could have been stopped if we had gotten in there earlier. We will stop Ebola in its tracks in the U.S."
Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, Lamar Hasbrouck, said the risk of getting Ebola remains very low in the U.S., but the first diagnosed case is sobering.
"It does send out a warning flare that we are vulnerable," he said Wednesday. "Only a plane ride away from somebody who's infected."
Still, Hasbrouck emphasized that if an Ebola patient should land at O'Hare Airport there is a system in place to manage the problem.
"We do have the capacity to isolate and control it," he said. "I don't suspect that it will ever get out of control."
