Another challenge: disposing of waste
Just one Ebola patient treated in a U.S. hospital will generate eight 55-gallon barrels of medical waste each day. Protective gloves, gowns, masks and booties are donned and doffed by all who approach the patient’s bedside and then discarded. Disposable medical tools, packaging, bed sheets, cups, plates, tissues, towels, pillowcases and anything which is utilized to clean up after the individual has to be thrown away. Dealing with this assortment of pathogen-filled debris without triggering new illnesses is a legal and logistical challenge for each U.S. hospital currently preparing for a possible visit by the virus. In California and other states, it is a much worse waste-management nightmare. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends autoclaving (a kind of sterilizing) or incinerating the waste as a surefire means of destroying the germs, burning waste is effectively banned in California, also banned in many different states. “Storage, transport…
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