Rick Scott: CDC Needs to Train Florida Hospitals on Ebola

Gov. Rick Scott said on Wednesday that the Florida Department of Health (DOH) is demanding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) instruct health care workers on how to handle Ebola patients. After the death of a Liberian national from Ebola in a Dallas hospital, two health care workers who tried to treat him were infected.

Now that there is a second health care worker with Ebola in Dallas, we want Florida hospitals to hear directly from the CDC on how to best protect our health care workers on the front lines, Scott said. While the CDC has existing guidance, there have been public reports from nurses in Texas that either that guidance was not followed, or the guidance for health care workers needs to be updated. Whatever the case may be, Florida hospitals must hear any new safety guidelines directly from the CDC in the next 48 hours so our hospitals are best prepared to protect the health of nurses, doctors and patients.

We are asking the CDC to hold a conference call with Florida hospitals on the best training and personal protective equipment protocols in the next 48 hours because we have to act with a sense of urgency to ensure our hospitals are prepared, Scott added. We have also informed the CDC of DOHs work to redirect federal grant funding, so we can purchase more personal protective equipment and other supplies to prepare for any case of Ebola in Florida. In light of this second case in Dallas today, we are asking the CDC to support our work to redirect these federal funds for Ebola preparedness, also within the next 48 hours.