90-Second Read: Inside the Nebraska quarantine facility responding to Hantavirus

The National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska is housing 18 people exposed to Hantavirus, and preparing for possible cases of Ebola exposure. Right now, 18 Americans from the cruise ship where Hantavirus broke out are in quarantine there. They discuss how the facility works, what's happening with the travelers exposed to Hantavirus, and how they're preparing for the possibility of Ebola-exposed individuals. Two disease outbreaks are dominating the news: Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Hantavirus, which started spreading on a cruise ship.

It's called the National Quarantine Unit, and it's in Omaha, Nebraska. FLORA LICHTMAN: How many Hantavirus-exposed patients do you have right now, and how are they doing? You could handle both these Hantavirus-exposed patients and Ebola-exposed patients if you needed to? Host Flora Lichtman chats with Angie Vasa, a nurse and administrator who has worked at this emergency center for the last 17 years.

Angie Vasa is the director of emergency preparedness and special pathogens programs at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. So we could in theory provide quarantine care for two different pathogens simultaneously without any cross contamination, so to speak. So if folks were here in the quarantine unit and needed biocontainment care, we would be wanting to move those individuals out to the other regional treatment centers so that they could have ready access to those critical care services. And so we collaborate with the health departments on exercises, and we'll do protocol review if people reach out and say here's what we're thinking for a response plan.

Each of the rooms are at least 300 square feet, and they have a full-size bed, en suite bathroom. And then we also participate in assessment and preparedness measures for other hospitals across HHS Region VII, which is Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, and Missouri. And we've had businesses put together care packages that they've donated books and local artisan soaps and just a wide variety of products that are unique to Omaha and to Nebraska.