Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

[eladdie]

Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials.

Doe it bother anyone else that on many of the BF web sites, there is a lot of handwringing about the inneffectiveness of the Governments plans and responses to the possible pandemic, but not a lot of positive advice?

Does it bother anyone that it's fashionable to bash the latest innane press release about not panicing, rather than shoot off a reply of how the press release could have been better worded to meet the prepardness goals?

When any of my staff comes to me with a problem, when any of my coworkers ever told me no, it couldn't be done, I go, and did go, nuts.

My mantra? Don't tell me no. Don't tell me it can't be done. Tell me what the problem is, and what are the options, however outlandish or expensive. Then we will decide together how to fix the problem.

As someone who believes that at some point action becomes more important than planning; that doing something, even if it is not the best possible choice, is often better than doing nothing; that complaining about what others are not doing or are doing incorrectly without the complainer trying to fix the problem themselves; or that sitting around waiting for others to solve problems is counterproductive, I propose that the great minds located here in FT begin to create positive, actionable advice at the Federal, State and local levels that officials can implement.

The premise here is that we can assume the Feds and State officials have created committees to study the problem, that said committees have created plans that are inclusive and "legal" and "politically correct" and "non inflamatory.

The premise is that these plans lack major tactical solutions for problems that they haven't begun to think about yet.

Let's help them. Surely some lowly staff member has been tasked to read these blogs.

Anyone want to join in?

 

[Goju]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

The fed gov is incapable of handling this. Perhaps if we were not at war there may be enough money to build the vax plants that can develop new technologies to fight this thing... and maybe prevent it from happening again.

With that said... it seems to me to boil down to the very local level.
Each town should add to their website a pandemic page telling their residents how to prepare for this. They should encourage their residents to begin learning more and prepping. There should be a chat based system set up on the town website for residents to communicate with each other without meeting face to face as will be needed during the pandemic.

Town officials should meet with local food stores to plan for rationing, scheduled buy periods for specific portions of the town. The towns should be stockpiling supplies for their first responders. Make sure they get the gas first for police, firetrucks and ambulances.

They should make deals with local farms to supply food to the town for distribution.

Water sources should be listed and passed out to each resident. If on private land, town should talk and get permission from owners for resident use during the pandemic.

Town should meet with power providers to develop back up plans in the event of power shortages or loss.

Police should develop protection plans for the town against "outside" trouble makers.

Just the beginning of a grass roots pandemic plan... good ole' USA style.

 

[LMonty]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

Just the beginning of a grass roots pandemic plan... good ole' USA style.

how about calling on interested local persons who can share skills, share brainstorming and identify local weakensses and strengths? create educational handouts (electronic is fine, but hard copies may be better in case of power interruption) on a variety of topics? Place them in prominent locations for pickup.

Develop prep item lists, customized to local needs; partner with local retailers to have those free lists avialable in the front of the stores, prominently displayed. Encourage sales and extra stock on items needed. Maybe set it up as a checklist that can be used as an order form, and submitted to customer service; then entire order picked up x number of days later?

Develop lists of local experts, in each need- power, water, light, all essential services; that would be willing to consult with community leaders in emergencies. Develop secure communications with those experts.

Encourage community leaders to rise and educate them to what might be expected, how to mobilize a group during an emergency, the psychology of disaster; effective risk communication, and some potentially effective techniques to encourage community cohesiveness. How to identify those who are risks, and what to do about them.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

My chat suggestion was to have grocery stores print lists of emergency preps on the grocery sacks.

Why not speculate what will be the most effective unit to carry out the actual nuts and bolts of preps, etc. (I suggest the neighborhood.) Target messages & practical how-tos to that unit.

Personally Ive put up some BF one-sheet info on community bulletin boards - places where you'd look for "stuff for sale" etc.

.

 

[eladdie]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

see below

The fed gov is incapable of handling this. Perhaps if we were not at war there may be enough money to build the vax plants that can develop new technologies to fight this thing... and maybe prevent it from happening again.

With that said... it seems to me to boil down to the very local level.

I agree 100%

Each town should add to their website a pandemic page telling their residents how to prepare for this.

Great idea
They should encourage their residents to begin learning more and prepping. There should be a chat based system set up on the town website for residents to communicate with each other without meeting face to face as will be needed during the pandemic.

Town officials should meet with local food stores to plan for rationing, scheduled buy periods for specific portions of the town. The towns should be stockpiling supplies for their first responders. Make sure they get the gas first for police, firetrucks and ambulances.

They should make deals with local farms to supply food to the town for distribution.

Water sources should be listed and passed out to each resident. If on private land, town should talk and get permission from owners for resident use during the pandemic.

Town should meet with power providers to develop back up plans in the event of power shortages or loss.

Police should develop protection plans for the town against "outside" trouble makers.

Just the beginning of a grass roots pandemic plan... good ole' USA style.

 

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

Eladdie, I am of two minds re: this thread. Yes, I do see hand-wringing and complaining on flu forums. But, I also work in the other end of this equation. I can nag with the best of them about not paying attention but, I also know why they don't.

It takes time and money to either hire someone with the expertise to weed through the chaff to get through the wheat, or put someone on the task who was actually hired to do another job. Virtually every city and county I work with is already so strapped for cash this is simply not feasible. Especially when those who are higher up do not share in our concerns. Bird flu is simply not even on their radar screens. Crime, street repairs, bridge maintenance, dams, health care and a myriad of other worries demand their attention. Our first priority is to get their attention then we can get some results.

Step number one is to show up at a city council meeting and with your data in your hands ask what is being down. Round up some like-minded individuals to give some weight to your requests. Badger them. The squeaky wheel does get the grease.

The next time you have the opportunity to go to a meet and greet for your states elected officials, go. Ask them what is being done to follow up on the Presidents Pandemic Plan. Some states are much farther along then others. Washington state has been a leader in this. Oregon is somewhere close to last. California is somewhere in the middle. But, there are always more things that can be done. Don't let them off the hook.

Only when you have forced the government to take this seriously, can you make constructive suggestions. Otherwise, it is the same old runaround, ignore the possibility because there is no time and no money

I did post a list of what I think needs to be done. But the list is worthless without someone shoving it into the faces of our elected officials. Therefore, the real challenge is up to us. Get out there and demand that you see some leadership. Threaten them with exposure in the papers if they don't follow through. Paint your town with flyers. Stand up after church in your coffee hour and share your concerns. Write letters to the editor. But most importantly, be a thorn in the side of your city councilors and a pain in the backside to your states elected leaders.

 

[eladdie]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

sorry got interrupted yesterday, comments continue below.

Originally Posted by Goju
The fed gov is incapable of handling this. Perhaps if we were not at war there may be enough money to build the vax plants that can develop new technologies to fight this thing... and maybe prevent it from happening again.

With that said... it seems to me to boil down to the very local level.

I agree 100%

Each town should add to their website a pandemic page telling their residents how to prepare for this.

Great idea

They should encourage their residents to begin learning more and prepping. There should be a chat based system set up on the town website for residents to communicate with each other without meeting face to face as will be needed during the pandemic.

It has been shown over and over again that communication is critical during a crisis and this is definitely a good idea. Backup communication plans must be in place in case of power outages. Also, as a politcal aside, communication must be truthful and fact based.

Town officials should meet with local food stores to plan for rationing, scheduled buy periods for specific portions of the town.

I agree. Effective distribution of food becomes paramount during a crisis. I would have two plans again. One with power. One without. I will have to look up some recent statistics, but I would hazard to guess that 60 - 70 % of grocery buying today is done through either a debit card or credit card, which will cause problems in case of a power outage.

The non power plan must make the assumption that infection and or death rates are high. Therefore home delivery to the curb plans would be more effective in limiting the spread of infection, i think, than having many people arrive at one location.

The towns should be stockpiling supplies for their first responders. Make sure they get the gas first for police, firetrucks and ambulances.

Stockpiling for first reponders, and critical infrastructure (and most gov workers are not critical )

They should make deals with local farms to supply food to the town for distribution.

Yes, however the reality is that local farms are monocultured, giving new meaning to the phrase that "man cannot live on bread, feed corn, cotton, soybeans, etc. alone.

Water sources should be listed and passed out to each resident. If on private land, town should talk and get permission from owners for resident use during the pandemic.

Didn't think of that. I recently am taking a new route to work because of carpooling and noticed on the side of the very busy road many cars stopped at what looked like a small park/trailhead in the morning. After several weeks, I took a closer look and it was actually a natural spring /spigot with all the people lined up with jugs for the water. You can bet that this will be popular in a pandemic.

Town should meet with power providers to develop back up plans in the event of power shortages or loss.

True, for example, what percentage of power is produced locally, and what percentage has to be "bought" from other producers. What type of fuel is being used and what is the supply on hand? In the case of a severe pandemic, one has to assume that bought power may become unavailable and that fuel supply deliveries dwindle. Immediate rationing of electricity may be a good idea once pandemic h5n1 hits the usa.

Police should develop protection plans for the town against "outside" trouble makers.

Quarantines are for preventing spread of disease. Quarantines to prevent h2h violence is an interesting concept. What is the definition of "outside troublemakers"? Would you include families that are refugees from a populous city?

Just the beginning of a grass roots pandemic plan... good ole' USA style.

 

[eladdie]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

Please see embedded comments.

Eladdie, I am of two minds re: this thread. Yes, I do see hand-wringing and complaining on flu forums. But, I also work in the other end of this equation. I can nag with the best of them about not paying attention but, I also know why they don't.

It takes time and money to either hire someone with the expertise to weed through the chaff to get through the wheat, or put someone on the task who was actually hired to do another job.

Yes, I know.

Virtually every city and county I work with is already so strapped for cash this is simply not feasible.

Agree.

Especially when those who are higher up do not share in our concerns.

Agree as well. Which is why top down planning almost never works. Boots on the field already have tasks, Even our governments are JIT.

Bird flu is simply not even on their radar screens. Crime, street repairs, bridge maintenance, dams, health care and a myriad of other worries demand their attention. Our first priority is to get their attention then we can get some results.

Getting their attention, on a local level, in my opinion, won't happen until we have a pandemic event begin. What I hope to be doing here is to have some realistic action advice fleshed out for the time when everyone goes, uh oh, it's here, now what do we do?

Step number one is to show up at a city council meeting and with your data in your hands ask what is being down. Round up some like-minded individuals to give some weight to your requests. Badger them. The squeaky wheel does get the grease.

Yes

The next time you have the opportunity to go to a meet and greet for your states elected officials, go. Ask them what is being done to follow up on the Presidents Pandemic Plan. Some states are much farther along then others. Washington state has been a leader in this. Oregon is somewhere close to last. California is somewhere in the middle. But, there are always more things that can be done. Don't let them off the hook.

Every reader of these forums should have this as a civic duty.

Only when you have forced the government to take this seriously, can you make constructive suggestions. Otherwise, it is the same old runaround, ignore the possibility because there is no time and no money

A fine example of JIT government.

I did post a list of what I think needs to be done. link?But the list is worthless without someone shoving it into the faces of our elected officials.

Therefore, the real challenge is up to us. Get out there and demand that you see some leadership. Threaten them with exposure in the papers if they don't follow through. Paint your town with flyers. Stand up after church in your coffee hour and share your concerns. Write letters to the editor. But most importantly, be a thorn in the side of your city councilors and a pain in the backside to your states elected leaders.

Activists are sometimes perceived as loonies by the popular culture, hence the reason that many do not do this. I don't have any good advice how to overcome this built in inertia on the part of the Flu posters. We are already labeled as lunatics by our friends and families, who wants the grief by strangers too?

 

[eladdie]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

I've looked over the released Fed Gov pandemic plans, and as a basic tenet of those plans they list their set of basic assumptions their plan is based on.

I could be wrong, but if I recall their assumptions about the actual disease are as follows:

30 - 40% infection rate
Total mortality rate to be 1-3%

From there follows everything else.

To be honest with you, if that assumption holds, then it is my opionion that their plans are good enough for everyone to muddle through.

But what if that isn't a valid assumption?

What if the infection rate is higher and the mortality rate is higher?
What then?
What do we do?

I assume that the Feds actually have another plan that deals with higher infection and mortality rates. I also assume all those plans are Eyes Only and Secret / Sensitive Material marked and will never see the light of day for obvious reasons.

Hence the amount of handwringing to be found on the internet about the pandemic planning process.

The problem with keeping this other plan secret is that it cannot be distributed and implemented fast enough at the ground level in case of an actual severe pandemic.

That's what this workshop is for. To talk about what to do on a practical level in the REAL worst case scenario.


Here are my pandemic assumptions for the posts in this workshop:

80% infection rate
25% CFR
20 % total fatality rate

Why those numbers?

Anything greater and the pandemic problems job gets easier due to the decreased population issues.

Anything less and these plans should still work.

I think the above assumptions are the true worst case scenario. Why?

Because of collateral damage. Deaths from rioting, food shortages, secondary health issues, economic collapse, social disorders, vigilanteeism, etc.

 

[eladdie]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

see comments below

how about calling on interested local persons who can share skills, share brainstorming and identify local weakensses and strengths? create educational handouts (electronic is fine, but hard copies may be better in case of power interruption) on a variety of topics? Place them in prominent locations for pickup.

I believe you are correct. Having a personal disaster manual is critical and the creation/distribution should be a high priority

Develop prep item lists, customized to local needs; partner with local retailers to have those free lists avialable in the front of the stores, prominently displayed.

Not only the list of those prep items, but in order of priority and suggested costs. If everyone knew just how inexpensive it is to be just a little bit ready then more would do it.

In the case of disaster prepardness, you can be a little bit pregnant

Encourage sales and extra stock on items needed. Maybe set it up as a checklist that can be used as an order form, and submitted to customer service; then entire order picked up x number of days later?

Great idea! I've noticed most stores have such a service for their handicapped clients. The preprinted shopping list would work.

Develop lists of local experts, in each need- power, water, light, all essential services; that would be willing to consult with community leaders in emergencies. Develop secure communications with those experts.

Encourage community leaders to rise and educate them to what might be expected, how to mobilize a group during an emergency, the psychology of disaster; effective risk communication, and some potentially effective techniques to encourage community cohesiveness. How to identify those who are risks, and what to do about them.

 

[Shannon Bennett]

Re: Practical advice for Federal, State , and Local Officials

Post #39 is where I laid out the plan. It started on this thread. http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5408 However, most of the arguments were laid out on a subsequent thread here. http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5431