CDC chief: get ready for flu
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Municipal and state government need to gird for little federal assistance if bird flu breaks out, the director of the Centers for Disease Control told a Boston conference last week, stressing that local communities are "where the bulk of our work has to go on."
Julie Louise Gerberding told public health officials the prospects of a global pandemic remain uncertain, and described preparedness efforts as "a marathon, not a sprint." Federal capacity, she said, would be too strained to ensure timely assistance. "The local planning is really the front line, and I can't say it enough," said Gerberding.
State and local authorities should develop plans for communication and "social distancing" techniques like school shutdowns, she said. Such measures would help contain and stem the spread of the highly fatal disease while larger health organizations work to develop vaccination techniques. International health authorities have pinpointed three cases of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 flu strain, and continue to encourage governments to develop vaccine stockpiles, increase hospital surge capacities, and draw up contingency plans.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to be optimistic right now," Gerberding said. Thursday's Mass. Health Public Policy Forum at the Radisson Hotel keyed on the potential for a flu pandemic, which experts fear could match the 1918 "Spanish flu" outbreak. Gov. Mitt Romney in February proposed a $36.5 million preparedness bill, upon which legislators have yet to act. Sen. Richard Moore, Senate chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, said on May 31 that the committee was looking to produce its own version; the committee has a June 20 deadline. That version, Moore said, would likely allocate the same amount of money, but focus less on the ability of hospitals to add surge capacity and more on the needs of local public health departments.
While Romney has conveyed pessimism that the pandemic could strike, Gerberding said Thursday that the preparations for a global calamity would help local governments deal with problems closer to home. "There really is an all-hazards benefit here," she said. US Sen. Edward Kennedy delivered a videotaped message to the conference, praising Gerberding and saying Washington should continue to provide funds for pandemic planning. "Complaceny," the CDC chief said, was the largest problem facing the preparedness effort: "When we have a really big problem to solve, or it's really complicated and it costs a lot of money, it's very easy to ignore it, and not take any effective action."
- State House News Service
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Municipal and state government need to gird for little federal assistance if bird flu breaks out, the director of the Centers for Disease Control told a Boston conference last week, stressing that local communities are "where the bulk of our work has to go on."
Julie Louise Gerberding told public health officials the prospects of a global pandemic remain uncertain, and described preparedness efforts as "a marathon, not a sprint." Federal capacity, she said, would be too strained to ensure timely assistance. "The local planning is really the front line, and I can't say it enough," said Gerberding.
State and local authorities should develop plans for communication and "social distancing" techniques like school shutdowns, she said. Such measures would help contain and stem the spread of the highly fatal disease while larger health organizations work to develop vaccination techniques. International health authorities have pinpointed three cases of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 flu strain, and continue to encourage governments to develop vaccine stockpiles, increase hospital surge capacities, and draw up contingency plans.
"I don't think it would be appropriate to be optimistic right now," Gerberding said. Thursday's Mass. Health Public Policy Forum at the Radisson Hotel keyed on the potential for a flu pandemic, which experts fear could match the 1918 "Spanish flu" outbreak. Gov. Mitt Romney in February proposed a $36.5 million preparedness bill, upon which legislators have yet to act. Sen. Richard Moore, Senate chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, said on May 31 that the committee was looking to produce its own version; the committee has a June 20 deadline. That version, Moore said, would likely allocate the same amount of money, but focus less on the ability of hospitals to add surge capacity and more on the needs of local public health departments.
While Romney has conveyed pessimism that the pandemic could strike, Gerberding said Thursday that the preparations for a global calamity would help local governments deal with problems closer to home. "There really is an all-hazards benefit here," she said. US Sen. Edward Kennedy delivered a videotaped message to the conference, praising Gerberding and saying Washington should continue to provide funds for pandemic planning. "Complaceny," the CDC chief said, was the largest problem facing the preparedness effort: "When we have a really big problem to solve, or it's really complicated and it costs a lot of money, it's very easy to ignore it, and not take any effective action."
- State House News Service