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Athens County EMS To Discuss Ebola Precautions
< < Back toAthens County Emergency Medical Services will meet today to discuss necessary precautions surrounding the Ebola outbreak.
"We're obviously monitoring any situation where there's a spike in a communicable disease," says Athens County EMS Chief Rick Calebs. "We're concerned the point right now that we want to make sure that if we would have a patient that falls into that category that we are prepared."
In the case that a local person contracted the Ebola virus, Calebs says that Athens County EMS would administer "standard precautionary and isolation procedures."
Athens County paramedics are equipped with gowns, masks and basic virus control training. Although he believes this gear is adequate, Calebs says that the main concern now is making sure that there are no "disease specific" pieces of equipment necessary for containing the virus.
"Most of the time these things come and go and we don't have any actual contact with anyone who has [the virus], but there's that chance."