THIS IS AN EXERCISE. IT IS NOT REAL.
What is the definition of a pandemic? A pandemic is a global outbreak of a disease that occurs when a new virus emerges in the human populations, causes serious illness, and spreads easily from person-to-person worldwide. Pandemics are rare events that have been documented since the 16th century, and in the last 400 years, at least 31 pandemics have been recorded. During the 20th century, influenza pandemics occurred in 1918, 1957, and 1968. Scientists believe it is just a matter of time until the next pandemic.
The Southeastern District Health Department (SDHD) is conducting an exercise to help educate the community about pandemic flu and receive feedback from the public about their reactions and how pandemic flu will impact their lives. SDHD is hoping that everyone reads the scenario and comments about them. This will help us create a better plan to respond to pandemic flu.
How to participate in the blog exercise: The blog exercise is meant to inform people and create a community discussion via the comments. You can participate by taking 20 minutes each day to read the scenario update and provide a comment about how the situation affects you.
During the next two weeks, we’ll be posting on this blog a continuing story line (the scenario) about how we expect pandemic flu to unfold and how we plan to respond to it. The story line will build up to a severe pandemic scenario on July 30, when regional hospitals will setup their alternate care sites. We’ll also have a few links to websites that we think have some pretty good information.
We hope that you will take about 20 minutes each day to review the new posting. Some days will be alot of reading, and others will be a quick read.
The exercise story line is a worst case scenario. With good planning and response mechanisms, many of the story cases won’t come true. However, we should prepare for any one of them happening.
We have three video clips that are fake news reports about the scenario. The first video will be posted tomorrow. When they get posted, please take the time to watch these videos because they are an excellent educational tool, and they help build the storyline for our exercise. The first video will be available for viewing tomorrow and will describe the beginning scenario for this exercise. The second and third videos will be posted at the appropriate day as the story line develops.
This blogex runs from today through July 29. On July 30, we begin the regional full scale exercise in response to pandemic flu. The story lines presented in this blogex create the situation that will require the area hospitals to set up their alternate care sites, which is where people with pandemic flu are planned to be cared for. County Emergency Managers will be opening the County Emergency Operations Centers to go through an extensive list of communications checks, including e-mail addresses, satellite telephones, radios, and internet-based emergency management software.
Also, most of the graphics that have response information are linked to the source document. Please click on those graphics to read the entire document.
A Few Links and Other Good Stuff:
www.pandemicflu.gov The U.S. Government’s official pandemic flu information page
http://1918.pandemicflu.gov 1918-1919 flu pandemic history in the U.S.
www.sdhdidaho.org Southeastern District Health Department’s web page
www.ready.gov U.S. Government web page about disaster preparedness
Government personnel should consider: Review the links for general education.
Business personnel should consider: Review the links for general education. Review “Workplace Questions” on www.pandemicflu.gov
Private Citizens should consider: Review the links for general education. Review “A Guide For Individuals and Families” at www.pandemicflu.gov
All readers are encouraged to leave a comment about the how this exercise scenario might impact your lives.
THIS IS AN EXERCISE. IT IS NOT REAL
SDHD PanFlu BlogEx 
It will be very interesting to see how the scenario plays out.
I work in a small clinic in Firth. We will be on the front line and will easily be overwhelmed in the beginning stages of a pandemic. I am the only provider in my clinic with a nurse and a receptionist. I serve Firth and outlying areas. I am excited to see how we can all help each other to handle this.
I saw this through a posting to the Emergency Management mail list. Great idea, and a creative way to use technology to get the public more fully involved (since I assume you’ve publicized this throughout your service area).
How Fun!! What a great teaching/learning idea.
I am going to forward to some groups.
Thank you.
I am not able to view the news. However at this point I think my family and commuinity would go about our routine activity. We have heard of the pandemic flu, have made precautions, and are waiting for the next flux for any actions. And expecting the announcemant that all is contained and hear no more about it.
If the airline lines are begginning to congest and back up. The inspection personnell would be in place. Airports and travelers would be abruptly detained.
Information for posting: email. text. bboard ready to iniate for general distribution.
Laqueta
What I found most interesting was the reference to the financial markets. I believe that the first wave of real panic in regards to the pandemic would be for people to worry about their money. Nothing makes people panic more quickly than money, which can lead to much more immediately quantifiable losses than the flu. While much of the public would likely be in denial about the possibility of an American pandemic, few would discount the immediate impact that an Asian economic collapse would have on the US economy.
Particularly if such an outbreak were to occur during a time such as the present when the financial markets are already unstable, I think that there could be mass withdrawals from the banks. Use the recent bank run at IndyMac as an example of a concentrated crowd of people worried about their money, and amplify it ten or twenty times – and then consider that this could be happening in many places simultaneously. This would have three immediately measurable effects on containment:
1. Law enforcement would quickly wear thin.
2. The mobs of people at these banks could become prime breeding grounds for the disease and likely epicenters for its spread.
3. Reports of such bank runs would quickly make it worse.
The second thing that struck me is the reference to the two drugs that were effective in treating the disease. All retail supplies of these drugs would likely be bought within hours of the announcement. Would it be prudent for emergency response agencies to collect and inventory these supplies for measured distribution? Would this even be feasible? Are there any best practice emergency procedures for retailers to follow in a pandemic or will each store handle the distribution and sale of these drugs in their own way? What happens when they run out?
This will be a great tool to see how things play out. Good idea.