90-Second Read: Johns Hopkins prepares to help in response to Hantavirus

If more people contract the Hantavirus, they may end up in a special facility inside a Baltimore hospital. What to know about the outbreak The Johns Hopkins biocontainment unit is what's known as a regional treatment center, similar to the facility in Nebraska where Hantavirus patients are in quarantine. Jade Flinn, director of operations at the Johns Hopkins Special Pathogens Center, told WBAL-TV 11 News that she has been in contact this week with the Nebraska facility and the CDC. Staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore are awaiting word from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about whether it will take patients. She said she's concerned about this strain of Hantavirus because of its ability to pass between humans.

But that is currently unknown and unclear right now," Flinn told WBAL-TV 11 News. Flinn said the Hopkins unit is currently empty but is ready for patients, if asked. Flinn said the CDC or Maryland Department of Health could request to use the Hopkins unit, but it's unclear if it will happen.

We are in contact with the CDC and our partners at the federal level, including Nebraska, who are our partners, and regional treatment centers to understand when that timeline and what to anticipate. If a patient does end up in the unit, it would be staffed by a team of clinicians who volunteer to provide care. Our biocontainment unit is a clinical care unit, just like any unit that you would see in a hospital. Though we don't have patients in it, we are ready to activate within a very short turnaround to admit a patient," Flinn told WBAL-TV 11 News.