Res 0638-2018

By Council Member Eugene Whereas, During the Ebola epidemic in 2014, New York State designated 8 hospitals to treat Ebola virus cases, but only Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital isolation unit was fully operational when the first Ebola case hit the State; and Whereas, Bellevue's quarantine unit was developed in the 1990s when tuberculosis cases were suddenly on the rise and has special anterooms, as well as ventilation and plumbing that run separately from the rest of the hospital's systems; and Whereas, While Bellevue's unit is a great resource for the City, it only has space for 4 patients; and Whereas, Each of the 8 hospitals in the State designated to treat Ebola virus cases only had space for 2 to 4 patients; and Whereas, The State was monitoring the spread of Ebola in other parts of the world and had months to make preparations, yet facilities were still not prepared when Ebola struck New York; and Whereas, New York can follow the example of the National Institutes of Health's Special Clinical Studies Unit at the Clinical Research Center in Bethesda and use its isolation units as research laboratories when not filled with patients; and Whereas, The State may not have time to prepare for the next outbreak of an infectious disease and should ensure that facilities are in place that can contain such an outbreak; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Department of Health to create stand-alone, self-contained isolation centers or units for the treatment of patients with infectious disease due to epidemic, including highly contagious and airborne diseases. CP LS# 1881 2/27/18