Minn. Health Department to issue pandemic flu plan

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/38628802.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUHK:uUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Minn. Health Department to issue pandemic flu plan
Associated Press
Last update: January 29, 2009 - 2:43 PM

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Department of Health will unveil a draft ethical framework on Friday for allocating critical health care resources during a severe influenza pandemic.

While public concern about "bird flu" may have waned over the past two years, the department says the threat of a possible influenza pandemic remains very real. It says a severe pandemic, like the one in 1918, could sicken up to a third of Minnesota's population, resulting in as many as 30,000 deaths.

The department says clear ethical guidelines for allocating scarce health care resources will be vitally important. Those would include antiviral drugs, vaccines, protective masks and mechanical ventilators.

The public will be invited to read and comment on the plan on a specially created Web site that will go live at 10 a.m. Friday.

 

[cartski]

Re: Minn. Health Department to issue pandemic flu plan

I'm surprised that this it's taken this long to get a pandemic plan in Minn. with CIDRAP located there. It will be interesting to see the extent, or any, influence of Osterholm's ideas in this plan.

J.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Minn. Health Department to issue pandemic flu plan

Source: http://www.startribune.com/local/38...aEP:kD:aU2EkP7K_t:aDyaEP:kD:aUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

If pandemic hits Minnesota, who would be treated first?
By WARREN WOLFE, Star Tribune
Last update: January 30, 2009 - 1:02 PM

Comments on this story

It seems a purely theoretical question right now: If a worldwide flu pandemic reaches Minnesota, who should get the limited supplies of anti-viral drugs, face masks and ventilators? Public health workers? The elderly? Police officers and dispatchers? Pregnant women?

But it's not just an exercise, a panel of public health officials and ethicists warned Friday in a preliminary report released for public comment.

A pandemic flu "will certainly occur," the report says. If it is severe, it will kill more than 100 million people worldwide, and more than 32,000 in Minnesota.

"Many people have a false sense of security because we haven't had a pandemic yet, after all the publicity about 'bird flu,''' said Minnesota Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan. "However, that same avian strain of influenza is still making people sick and causing deaths in Asia and Africa, and it could still cause a pandemic.''

The state is asking for public response by March 16 to the report, called "For the Good of Us All: Ethically Rationing Health Resources in Minnesota in a Severe Influenza Pandemic."

More than 100 experts commissioned by the Minnesota Department of Health have been meeting and working their way through the ethical minefield of issues that boil down to a harsh equation: whose life is most important to preserve and who is less crucial to society?

The panel's answer:

? First, key workers who are at high risk of getting the flu and who are critical to limiting pandemic deaths, protecting overall health and keeping civil order. In the general population, groups such as pregnant women who are at disproportionately high risk of contracting flu.

? Second, key workers whose jobs expose them to flu and a small number of irreplaceable key workers. In the general population, groups at high risk of flu. Higher priority might be given to younger people than older.

? Third, all other key workers, and groups in the general population at moderate risk of flu.

? Fourth, everyone else.

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Impact could be devastating

Three flu pandemics have swept across Minnesota in the last century, including a severe outbreak in 1918-19 and moderate ones in 1957 and 1968.

A severe pandemic lasting years could crush normal health, business and social activities, with no guarantee of federal help, the panel warned. That's one reason the federal government is requiring states to plan for the worst.

Vaccomes will be in short supply, the panel said. Minnesota has stockpiled enough antiviral medicine to treat about 21 percent of the population in a first wave of the flu, and 2.4 million masks for public health workers that would last less than three weeks.

Fatalities in a severe flu pandemic will follow W-shaped distribution by age -- infants and the elderly with the highest death rates, and those ages 15-40 in the next tier, the panel predicted.

Flu vaccines and antiviral medications probably will be less effective among infants and the elderly, so those groups might receive a lower priority for scarce supplies. They might be better protected if the state can prevent flu in the people who care for and live with them.

Overall, the panel said, the top priorities of a rationing system should be, "Protect the population's health, protect public safety and civil order, and treat people fairly, recognizing the moral equality of all."

But before rationing scarce supplies, officials should consider closing businesses and schools, the report recommended.

To read the report and to offer comment, go to www.ahc.umn.edu/mnpanflu.

Warren Wolfe ? 612-673-7253

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Minn. Health Department to issue pandemic flu plan

Source: http://legal-ledger.com/item.cfm?recID=11557

Deadline extended for comments on pandemic plan
By Capitol Report staff
March 19, 2009

The Minnesota Department of Health has extended its deadline for accepting public comment on a proposed ethical framework for allocating scarce medical resources in the state during a pandemic.

The new deadline is April 13.

The public can view and comment on the document at www.ahc.umn.edu/mnpanflu/. As of March 15, 115 people and organizations had commented on the recommendations.

The recommendations were developed by a specially convened panel of Minnesotans, with the support of experts in a variety of fields. They are posted in two parts: a report outlining the recommendations, and a separate document suggesting how the recommendations be implemented.