Additional information is expected later today on the patient who is being evaluated at a Jefferson County, Missouri Mercy hospital for possible Ebola exposure.
The hospital is working in collaboration with the Jefferson County Health Department on the evaluation. The patient recently returned from West Africa.
“The patient is considered low risk but we are taking all appropriate safety precautions using protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” John Winkelman, regional manager for marketing and communications at Mercy Hospital Jefferson read from the hospital’s official statement. “The patient is being isolated in a facility separate from the main hospital. Specially trained staff members are providing care solely to this patient.”
The separate facility is described as a freestanding surgical hospital located across the highway from the main campus and Winkleman said the patient was never in the main hospital.