NJ Hospitals Designated to Take Ebola Patients, if They Come

At a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Chris Christie said three hospitals in New Jersey would take the lead in Ebola response: University Hospital in Newark, Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, and Hackensack University Medical Center.

University Hospital is the closest to the airport and was the destination Tuesday night of a traveler suspected of being infected by the virus. He and his wife were cleared to leave on Wednesday, after their symptoms were determined not to be Ebola-related. Another passenger from Liberia was brought to the same hospital earlier this month for the same reason, and was also discharged.

"All these steps are taken in an abundance of caution to make sure that we're protecting as best we can the public health of the citizens of our state," Christie said about the latest case.

New Jersey's 'A' List of hospitals comes a week after New York designated its go-to places: Bellevue, Mount Sinai, New York-Presbyterian, Montefiore and Northshore-LIJ, plus three others outside the metro area.

New Jersey's plans were also announced on the same day that federal officials said they were implementing enhanced screening protocols for Ebola. The U.S. will now limit flights from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone to the five airports — including Newark Liberty and JFK — where screening for Ebola symptoms began earlier this month. And as of Monday, all passengers from those nations will have to monitor themselves for symptoms for 21 days, and report to local health officials.