As a major hub for international travel, Chicago is no stranger to preparing for and handling deadly contagions.
The city developed a playbook more than a decade ago during an Ebola outbreak in west Africa and is using lessons learned for the deadly virus as it surges in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Public health leaders and infectious diseases specialists are preparing for everything from where to send patients in Chicago should they develop symptoms to how to get travelers safely through uber-busy O’Hare Airport.
Here’s what you should know.
First of all, there’s a low risk of Ebola arriving in Chicago.
There are no confirmed cases of Ebola across the city, according to the Chicago public health department. A person can’t spread the virus unless they have symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea, so they aren’t as contagious. That means it’s easier to protect people compared to how COVID-19 spread rapidly through the air, said Dr. Larry Kociolek, vice president of system preparedness, prevention and response at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.
A big way Ebola could arrive is through travelers at O’Hare. But that risk has been reduced.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is routing all flights that include any passengers who have recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan, where the virus is surging or is nearby, to Washington Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C., for enhanced Ebola screening — not to O’Hare.
Chicago routinely trains for this
Ever since the 2014 Ebola outbreak led Chicago to create a plan in case a contagion arrives, public health and hospital leaders routinely meet to share intel.
Everyone from doctors to firefighters practice what to do — how to carefully draw blood from someone infected with a virus, how to put on and take off all the protective gear needed to treat a patient, and how to prepare an ambulance to safely transport someone who is sick.
It wasn’t too long ago that COVID-19 tested these skills.
Still, what happens if someone develops Ebola symptoms?
There are two designated hospitals where anyone in Illinois would receive treatment. Adults would head to Rush University Medical Center on the Near West Side, and kids and teens would go to Lurie near downtown.
Each hospital can quickly convert a large space or several patient rooms into a biocontainment unit to treat people with dangerous, highly infectious diseases.
Rush and Lurie can each treat up to two patients at a time, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but hospital leaders explained how resource intensive treating a patient with Ebola could be. For example, they need one room to treat a patient and another for nurses and doctors to change into protective gear. They need to use their own equipment for blood work — not a general hospital lab — and need specialized transport for medical waste.
Up to 50 people with the proper training could be involved in taking care of just one patient in the first 24 hours of their arrival, according to Rush.
“The stakes are much, much higher, and it is incredibly expensive to maintain those types of facilities, to maintain that equipment,” Kociolek said.
There isn’t a cure or much treatment for the swelling strain of Ebola. But doctors can provide IV fluids if a patient is dehydrated or put them on a ventilator to help them breathe, Kociolek said.
While the risk for Ebola is a little higher than it was before the outbreak, Kociolek isn’t too concerned: “For us, it’s kind of just another day.”
Dr. Brian Stein, chief quality officer for the Rush University System for Health, encourages patients to still come to the hospital for emergencies or routine procedures even if they’re treating someone with Ebola: “There’s no threat to other patients.”
Both hospitals last year received state funding to help pay for training and equipment.
Are politics getting in the way of preparedness?
Public health officials in the Democratic stronghold of Illinois have been at odds with the Republican Trump administration, especially over childhood vaccines. But Dr. Emily Landon, an infectious diseases specialist at UChicago Medicine, said public health officials are working together to limit the outbreak.
“As long as we follow through with the steps that we know are going to protect individuals and communities, then I think that we’re going to be in pretty good shape,” Landon said.
Though the Trump administration withdrew from the World Health Organization, Chicago is still getting intel from WHO and from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Dr. Alex Sloboda, deputy commissioner of emergency preparedness and immunizations for the Chicago public health department.
Should I still hop on a plane for Memorial Day weekend or summer vacation?
Kociolek’s advice: “Be aware of the situation without fear. Just be mindful of infectious disease threats no matter where you travel.”
The CDC recommends against non-essential travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and measles is spreading in parts of the U.S. and in other countries. Travelers can look up guidance here.
The Sun-Times’ Elvia Malagon contributed.
Kristen Schorsch covers the health of the region for WBEZ.