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Pandemic response plan may get Burlingame OK
<!--subtitle-->City Council to address matter at Monday meeting
<!--byline-->By Mark Abramson, MEDIANEWS STAFF
<!--date-->Article Created: 04/05/2008 02:35:31 AM PDT
<script language="JavaScript"> var requestedWidth = 0; </script>
<script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').styl e.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').styl e.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } </script>Burlingame is close to approving a plan for responding to a pandemic flu outbreak that would otherwise cripple city services. San Mateo County had urged the city and other municipalities to take steps to prepare for such an event. Burlingame City Council members will get a look at their city's plan Monday night and decide whether it's up to snuff.
"It is very real," San Mateo County Public Health Director Brian Zamora said of the possibility of an outbreak. "It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when."
Zamora said pandemic flu could result in cities facing staffing shortages of 30 percent to 50 percent, people being banned from gathering to curtail the illnesses' transmission and other measures.
The county has asked that cities develop plans to keep utilities, police and fire departments, and other emergency services operational. Burlingame and Daly City have done the most work in preparing for pandemic flu, Zamora said.
Bill Reilly, the Central County Fire Department's emergency services coordinator, put together Burlingame's plan. It includes having city workers use text messaging, e-mail and other electronic communication methods to avoid spreading the flu.
Burlingame officials said the flu could come in four phases, ranging from a mild outbreak to a widespread outbreak.
"In a pandemic, if there is that many people out, things will be shut down," Reilly said.
The fire department might have to operate with fewer firefighters
and would have to position its equipment where the department believes it would be most effective. And the fire department would have to prioritize its calls ? meaning some less-important calls may get no response, Reilly said. If the outbreak is severe enough, police departments in Burlingame, San Mateo, Hillsborough, Belmont and Foster City may act as one agency, Burlingame police Cmdr. Mike Matteucci said.
"The borders would basically comedown," Matteucci said. "You would have to start cutting services, obviously. You would prioritize your calls."
Major felonies and crimes against people would have the highest priority, while property crimes, such as thefts, would have the lowest priority, Matteucci said.
One question that has yet to be resolved: How would the City Council and commissions meet?
"We would still have to have meetings," Burlingame City Attorney Larry Anderson said.
The city posed the question about meetings to state Sen. Leland Yee's office, and it appears the state Attorney General's Office is working on a plan, Anderson said.
<!--subtitle-->City Council to address matter at Monday meeting
<!--byline-->By Mark Abramson, MEDIANEWS STAFF
<!--date-->Article Created: 04/05/2008 02:35:31 AM PDT
<script language="JavaScript"> var requestedWidth = 0; </script>
<script language="JavaScript"> if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').styl e.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').styl e.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } </script>Burlingame is close to approving a plan for responding to a pandemic flu outbreak that would otherwise cripple city services. San Mateo County had urged the city and other municipalities to take steps to prepare for such an event. Burlingame City Council members will get a look at their city's plan Monday night and decide whether it's up to snuff.
"It is very real," San Mateo County Public Health Director Brian Zamora said of the possibility of an outbreak. "It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when."
Zamora said pandemic flu could result in cities facing staffing shortages of 30 percent to 50 percent, people being banned from gathering to curtail the illnesses' transmission and other measures.
The county has asked that cities develop plans to keep utilities, police and fire departments, and other emergency services operational. Burlingame and Daly City have done the most work in preparing for pandemic flu, Zamora said.
Bill Reilly, the Central County Fire Department's emergency services coordinator, put together Burlingame's plan. It includes having city workers use text messaging, e-mail and other electronic communication methods to avoid spreading the flu.
Burlingame officials said the flu could come in four phases, ranging from a mild outbreak to a widespread outbreak.
"In a pandemic, if there is that many people out, things will be shut down," Reilly said.
The fire department might have to operate with fewer firefighters
and would have to position its equipment where the department believes it would be most effective. And the fire department would have to prioritize its calls ? meaning some less-important calls may get no response, Reilly said. If the outbreak is severe enough, police departments in Burlingame, San Mateo, Hillsborough, Belmont and Foster City may act as one agency, Burlingame police Cmdr. Mike Matteucci said.
"The borders would basically comedown," Matteucci said. "You would have to start cutting services, obviously. You would prioritize your calls."
Major felonies and crimes against people would have the highest priority, while property crimes, such as thefts, would have the lowest priority, Matteucci said.
One question that has yet to be resolved: How would the City Council and commissions meet?
"We would still have to have meetings," Burlingame City Attorney Larry Anderson said.
The city posed the question about meetings to state Sen. Leland Yee's office, and it appears the state Attorney General's Office is working on a plan, Anderson said.
