TheFluMaster
Resident
Little consensus among states on how to deal with pandemic
By Lauran Neergaard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trailers packed with cots and medical supplies are parked in secret locations around Colorado, ready for doctors to open makeshift hospitals in school gyms if a flu pandemic strikes.
Parts of southeastern Washington are considering drive-through flu shots during a pandemic ? although a practice run this fall showed they'd better hire traffic cops.
If Alabama closes schools amid a super-flu, students may take classes via public television. In Dallas, city librarians may replace sick 911 operators.
States and communities are getting creative as they struggle to answer the Bush administration's call to prepare for the next influenza pandemic, whether the culprit is the much-feared Asian bird flu or some other super-strain.
The Associated Press took a closer look at those preparations and found wide differences in how far along states are ? and little consensus on the best policies on such basic issues as who decides whether to close schools.
Almost half the states haven't spent any of their own money yet to gird against a super-flu, relying instead on grants from the federal government.
Ethical queries abound about how to ration scarce drugs and vaccine. As Oklahoma epidemiologist Dr. Brett Cauthen puts it, that's "the toughest question out there."
Some states are debating whether to purchase the recommended anti-flu medications to store for their citizens, or to gamble that they'll receive enough from a federal stockpile.
And while some states proudly list other pandemic supplies they've stockpiled in guarded warehouses ? 4.5 million protective face masks, touts New York ? others, like West Virginia, still are putting final drafts of their plans to paper.
"How are states doing, and how do we know how states are doing?" asked Dr. Pascale Wortley of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There's a lot of important things that are very hard to measure. It's a real challenge."
Indeed, when the government's first official assessment of state readiness begins in a few weeks, officials expect few states will have tackled some of the toughest issues: How will you keep grocery stores stocked? Will you reserve enough anti-flu drugs for utility workers so the water and electricity stay on?
"Weeding out" in Arizona
Dr. Bob England, health director for Maricopa County, Ariz., said, "We have to set up some kind of system for checking on folks (at home) and weeding out the people who really need to come in."
Because it will take months to custom-brew a vaccine once a pandemic begins, flu-treating medicines, mostly Tamiflu, form the backbone of the nation's preparations. World flu authorities recommend stockpiling enough for a quarter of the population, or 75 million Americans.
The Bush administration is in the process of buying enough to treat 44 million people, and will hold each state's share in a national stockpile. States are supposed to buy enough to treat the remaining 31 million people, with doses the states would store. The federal government negotiated a cheap price and offered to chip in 25 percent of the cost, said Dr. William Raub, emergency planning chief at the Department of Health and Human Services.
At least four states don't know if they'll spend their own scarce dollars for the extra purchases, saying the drugs might not work against a super-flu ? or expire before they're needed.
"There's a chance that it might be useful, but there's also a chance that it might not be useful at all," frets Arizona assistant health director Will Humble. The state used a $1 million federal grant to purchase enough medicine for 66,000 people; he isn't sure if it will buy more.
The state is urging counties to work with schools and churches on plans to minimize public gatherings during a pandemic, such as holding small worship services several times a week instead of a big one on Sunday.
Super-strains of the influenza virus cause worldwide outbreaks every few decades or so, three in the last century. Worst was the 1918 pandemic that killed about 50 million people worldwide, 500,000 in the U.S.
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/160704
By Lauran Neergaard
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trailers packed with cots and medical supplies are parked in secret locations around Colorado, ready for doctors to open makeshift hospitals in school gyms if a flu pandemic strikes.
Parts of southeastern Washington are considering drive-through flu shots during a pandemic ? although a practice run this fall showed they'd better hire traffic cops.
If Alabama closes schools amid a super-flu, students may take classes via public television. In Dallas, city librarians may replace sick 911 operators.
States and communities are getting creative as they struggle to answer the Bush administration's call to prepare for the next influenza pandemic, whether the culprit is the much-feared Asian bird flu or some other super-strain.
The Associated Press took a closer look at those preparations and found wide differences in how far along states are ? and little consensus on the best policies on such basic issues as who decides whether to close schools.
Almost half the states haven't spent any of their own money yet to gird against a super-flu, relying instead on grants from the federal government.
Ethical queries abound about how to ration scarce drugs and vaccine. As Oklahoma epidemiologist Dr. Brett Cauthen puts it, that's "the toughest question out there."
Some states are debating whether to purchase the recommended anti-flu medications to store for their citizens, or to gamble that they'll receive enough from a federal stockpile.
And while some states proudly list other pandemic supplies they've stockpiled in guarded warehouses ? 4.5 million protective face masks, touts New York ? others, like West Virginia, still are putting final drafts of their plans to paper.
"How are states doing, and how do we know how states are doing?" asked Dr. Pascale Wortley of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There's a lot of important things that are very hard to measure. It's a real challenge."
Indeed, when the government's first official assessment of state readiness begins in a few weeks, officials expect few states will have tackled some of the toughest issues: How will you keep grocery stores stocked? Will you reserve enough anti-flu drugs for utility workers so the water and electricity stay on?
"Weeding out" in Arizona
Dr. Bob England, health director for Maricopa County, Ariz., said, "We have to set up some kind of system for checking on folks (at home) and weeding out the people who really need to come in."
Because it will take months to custom-brew a vaccine once a pandemic begins, flu-treating medicines, mostly Tamiflu, form the backbone of the nation's preparations. World flu authorities recommend stockpiling enough for a quarter of the population, or 75 million Americans.
The Bush administration is in the process of buying enough to treat 44 million people, and will hold each state's share in a national stockpile. States are supposed to buy enough to treat the remaining 31 million people, with doses the states would store. The federal government negotiated a cheap price and offered to chip in 25 percent of the cost, said Dr. William Raub, emergency planning chief at the Department of Health and Human Services.
At least four states don't know if they'll spend their own scarce dollars for the extra purchases, saying the drugs might not work against a super-flu ? or expire before they're needed.
"There's a chance that it might be useful, but there's also a chance that it might not be useful at all," frets Arizona assistant health director Will Humble. The state used a $1 million federal grant to purchase enough medicine for 66,000 people; he isn't sure if it will buy more.
The state is urging counties to work with schools and churches on plans to minimize public gatherings during a pandemic, such as holding small worship services several times a week instead of a big one on Sunday.
Super-strains of the influenza virus cause worldwide outbreaks every few decades or so, three in the last century. Worst was the 1918 pandemic that killed about 50 million people worldwide, 500,000 in the U.S.
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/160704