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First Meeting was June 13th 2006 at 1:30 PM in the basement of the courthouse.
Purpose of the meeting was to get everyone ( Law Enforcement, Public Health, Elected Officials, Emergency Management,
Public Works, Emergency Services, Business, Churches, Fire Chiefs, etc etc AND the Public) on the same sheet of music
about what we are going to do if we do have a Pandemic of Avian (or any other kind) Influenza. This includes continuation
of essential services and could include setting up alternative health care facilities in Cedar County if the surrounding hospitals
are full.
| Mass Fatalities Tabletop in Action |
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The Committee held a Mass Fatalities tabletop drill on Aug 3rd at
the Cedar County Courthouse. It was well attended with over 40 participants and all of the comments so far have been very
positive about what a terrific learning experience it was.
To see the KCRG video covering our drill:
(Click Here to see KCRG video)
Assumptions
- Once efficient human-to-human transmission of a novel influenza strain becomes established, Illness will spread quickly
and globally. We cannot keep pandemic flu out of Cedar County. We will have little lead time between when a pandemic is first
declared by the WHO and when it spreads to our county.
- Assistance from the federal government, state, and neighboring counties will be limited or unavailable.
- The clinical disease attack rate will likely be 30% or higher in the overall population during the pandemic, which may
occur in waves. Absenteeism rates in all sectors may be high due to illness, caring for sick family members, or looking after
children (if schools close).
- Essential community services, such as electricity, drinking water treatment, fuel, heat (depending on the season), food
distribution, and public safety services may be at risk. It will be crucial to ensure their functioning to prevent additional
deaths and disease. Supply chains may be disrupted.
- Prior to the pandemic and the observation of its epidemiology, it will be difficult to predict what groups may be at highest
risk.
- Although the health sector may be significantly affected even by a mild pandemic or severe seasonal flu outbreak, the
county as a whole would need to plan primarily for a severe pandemic.
- In the short term, vaccine will be non-existent or very limited for 6 to 8 months, and will likely require two doses to
provide protection.
- Antiviral medication will be limited and of unknown effectiveness. It will be prioritized to essential groups. Based on
current supply, it will be of limited value in the big picture.
- In a severe pandemic, the health care delivery system will be overwhelmed – restructuring and prioritization of
health services will be necessary.
- The Cedar County Pandemic Influenza Plan will be an evolving document, changing with community circumstances, research
findings, and assessment of best practices.
- Current Computer modeling provides data suggesting a 90 day peak of illness with a 6 month duration. Obviously a great
deal will be due to how antigenic drift and shift occur in the birth of a novel virus..
This is a basic planning document for any organization or business:
click here to download a Basic Plan for Pandemic planning for Organizations
Will there be a need for my organization's goods or services
during a pandemic?Yes
- What essential goods and services will continue to be needed even during a severe pandemic? How will they be provided?
- Will personnel be available to provide essential services?
- Will supplies be available to provide essential services?
- How can communications with managers, staff and customers be maintained?
- For essential businesses: How will you communicate, when necessary, with local Emergency Operations Center?
No
- How will my organization weather a loss of demand for goods or services that may last 3 months?
- How will my organization operate if certain key supplies can’t be obtained for up to 12 months or more?
- What actions might be taken to help mitigate the losses?
- Can my organization operate in a different way or provide a different service during a pandemic?
- What will happen to employees?
Is it possible or likely that my organization will be forced
to stop operations?
- By government order?
- By loss of customers?
- By loss of staff?
- By unavailability of critical supplies and materials?
Personnel Preparedness to Maintain Operations during a PandemicEducate
all staff about what might happen in a flu pandemic. Encourage them to prepare their households, so they will be
better able to perform their jobs. Help them understand how their jobs may change during a pandemic. Define
essential and non-essential activities. Halt non-essential tasks when necessary and re-deploy staff to essential
activities. Cross train staff so that all critical functions can be done by several different people.
Create written instructions/procedures for critical processes that can be carried out by others. Decrease person-to-person
contact, if possible, through
- telecommuting
- meetings by telephone, web, etc.
- email communications
- staggered shifts, that reduce crowding and limit contact with other shifts
- altering business processes
- serving customers via phone, fax, web instead of face-to-face
Reduce risk of disease transmission
in workplace by
- Requiring sick to stay at home, with paid leave when possible
- Increasing cleaning of objects touched by many people (keyboards, doorknobs, faucet handles, photocopy machine keys, etc.
(Virus can persist 48+ hours on hard surfaces) Note: vacuuming and sweeping may stir up viral particles, increasing risk.
- Increase hand hygiene; wash hands frequently or use alcohol-based sanitizer (>60% ethanol). Don't re-contaminate hands
after washing; turn off faucet with paper towel and use towel to open restroom door to leave.
- Promote cough/sneeze etiquette. Cough into tissue, then discard in waste basket and wash hands. If no tissue available,
cough/sneeze into shoulder or elbow, rather than hands.
- Make sanitizers, tissues, disposable towels and gloves available if possible
- Increasing temperature and humidity of room may help reduce virus
- Avoid putting hands to face, mouth, nose, eyes.
- Effectiveness of masks in the workplace--outside of healthcare--is unknown. At least, they may help reduce putting hands
to face.
- Replace handshakes with nods of recognition or other non-contact salutation
Review workplace personnel
policies regarding
- Leave policies and Family Medical Leave Act
- Exclusion of ill workers from workplace
- Workers compensation – disability benerfits
- Responsibility for personal protective equipment/supplies – OSHA, Union contracts
Review contracts
- With customers to see if current force majeure clauses [clauses that protect you from failure to perform in case of extraordinary
circumstances] would cover pandemic influenza; if not should they be added?
- With vendors to see if they have similar clauses in contracts if they fail to deliver supplies.
Review insurance coverage
- Continuity of business insurance is likely not to cover pandemic situations. Check your policy
Review your continuity of business plan
- Do you have one? If not, begin working on one.
- If you have one, revise it to deal adequately with a pandemic situation
- Will you need to take more security measures during a pandemic?
Critical supplies
- Stockpile 90 days of critical supplies, if possible. Rotate out oldest supplies while refilling the stockpile with newest
supplies
- Identify multiple vendors/transporters to maintain supply chain and assess their pandemic flu preparations. Be prepared
to revised plans as situation changes.
Establish means to communicate with your local Emergency
Operations Center if you are an essential service.
You can find an extensive, freely useable and distributable influenza plan template for your business or organization
at http://www.ebrp.net/images/PandemicResponse.pdf
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