Via Shutterstock.

Via Shutterstock.

As the world’s leading health organizations race to find a vaccine for the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the few cases that have popped up in the U.S. have prompted most cities to evaluate their preparedness.

Though, to date, their have only been four diagnosed cases of Ebola in the U.S. in 2014—the latest being a doctor in New York who was recently treating patients in Africa for the virus—there have been plenty of scares. Earlier, this month, a patient who had recently traveled to West Africa was admitted to Howard University Hospital for Ebola-like symptoms, but it didn’t end up being the virus. Still, that raised some questions about D.C.’s preparedness for the deadly virus.

Earlier today, the D.C. Council’s Committee on Health—chaired by Councilmember Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7)—held a public oversight roundtable to discuss the District’s preparedness. Already, the Center for Disease Control has set up enhanced screening for possible Ebola patients at Dulles Airport for passengers arriving from West Africa. Dulles is one of five U.S. airports that accounts for 94 percent of passengers that arrive in the U.S. from Ebola-stricken countries.

But how prepared are D.C.’s hospitals? “Absolutely we’re prepared,” an official from George Washington University Hospital said during his testimony. “We’ve been preparing since the summer. We’ve had drills—both planned and unplanned.” Along with GW Hospital, most D.C. area hospitals said they’ve been preparing to properly treat and contain Ebola patients, with planned and unplanned drills. Dr. Joxel Garcia, Director of D.C.’s Department of Health, told Councilmembers present that they visited all District hospitals this week to evaluate their preparedness to treat patients with the virus.

While Garcia assured that the city is well prepared, there were some concerns raised by Councilmembers. Alexander questioned a recent decision by Maryland lawmakers to designate D.C.’s MedStar Washington Hospital Center as the state hospital in the area to treat Ebola patients. Concerns were raised that it might be too much of a load to put on MedStar: to be responsible for not only treating D.C. patients, but area Maryland ones that might be diagnosed with Ebola.

Councilmember David Grosso (I-At Large) also raised some concerns about D.C.’s preparedness. Children’s National Medical Center said that they currently have the capacity to take about “two to four Ebola patients, if it were necessary,” and GW Hospital says they have protection suits on back order, only capable of handling a few patients with the virus at the moment. Officials from area hospitals all said that, at the moment, they could only treat about two to four Ebola patients at this time.

Outside of the Wilson Building, the Post reports that “union leaders representing D.C. nurses and firefighters” rallied, calling for “better protections while transporting and caring for patients with symptoms consistent with Ebola.”