CLAIM: George Washington University Hospital stopped accepting patients due to a possible Ebola outbreak in recent days.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Washington, D.C., hospital does not have any Ebola patients and is still fully open, it said in a statement to The Associated Press.
THE FACTS: Social media users are sharing a baseless claim that George Washington University Hospital is no longer taking patients due to an Ebola outbreak. A Twitter post first making the claim was posted on Wednesday. It was later deleted, but screenshots of the post have continued to circulate on other platforms.
“GW HOSPITAL isn’t accepting no patients due to a possible EBOLA OUTBREAK,” reads the post on Twitter. “Also Washington Hospital Center has no bed space with a line out the door. Stay Tuned for more updates.”
A subsequent post claimed the hospital was turning away ambulances due to an outbreak involving “at least one person.”
But the hospital says this is false. “We do not have ANY patients with Ebola and are fully open to serve the community,” CEO Kimberly Russo said in a statement provided to the AP. A similar statement was posted on the hospital’s Twitter account.
The statement added that the hospital is not turning patients away. “That, too, was an erroneous statement posted by the same individual on Twitter. GW Hospital remained fully open to serve the community, under normal operations, and with no disruption of services,” Russo said.
A spokesperson for the hospital separately...
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