Security Task Force making plans for flu pandemic
Nick Danna
Douglas Daily News
DOUGLAS ? County emergency response officials are in the initial stages of developing a response plan to a possible influenza pandemic.
Members of the Douglas-Coffee County Security Task Force laid the groundwork Monday for selecting a committee that would create the county's plan for responding to the threat of a new strain of flu that could incapacitate at least 40 percent of the county over a period of three months.
Much like county emergency response plans for other disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes, the flu plan would assign response roles and management duties to a host of local entities, including law enforcement, public health, media, businesses, schools and faith-based organizations.
What makes pandemic influenza different from other disasters, says public health official Trina Von Waldner, is that the outbreak is likely to last several months, which could tax emergency response plans created to deal with disasters that only last a few days at the longest.
"The scenarios call for at least 40 percent of a county to be affected, so everyone, cities, counties, hospitals, businesses, fire departments, law enforcement, has to know how they will continue to operate without 40 percent of their workforce over a three-month cycle," Von Waldner told the task force Monday.
According to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, in a typical season approximately 36,000 people die of flu in the U.S., mostly the elderly. During a flu pandemic, normally caused when new strains of the virus begin circulating among humans, the death toll can rise dramatically.
According to stats released by GEMA, the 1918 pandemic caused by Spanish Flu killed more than 500,000 people in the U.S., and scientists estimate that it killed up to 50 million people worldwide.
Nick Danna
Douglas Daily News
DOUGLAS ? County emergency response officials are in the initial stages of developing a response plan to a possible influenza pandemic.
Members of the Douglas-Coffee County Security Task Force laid the groundwork Monday for selecting a committee that would create the county's plan for responding to the threat of a new strain of flu that could incapacitate at least 40 percent of the county over a period of three months.
Much like county emergency response plans for other disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes, the flu plan would assign response roles and management duties to a host of local entities, including law enforcement, public health, media, businesses, schools and faith-based organizations.
What makes pandemic influenza different from other disasters, says public health official Trina Von Waldner, is that the outbreak is likely to last several months, which could tax emergency response plans created to deal with disasters that only last a few days at the longest.
"The scenarios call for at least 40 percent of a county to be affected, so everyone, cities, counties, hospitals, businesses, fire departments, law enforcement, has to know how they will continue to operate without 40 percent of their workforce over a three-month cycle," Von Waldner told the task force Monday.
According to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, in a typical season approximately 36,000 people die of flu in the U.S., mostly the elderly. During a flu pandemic, normally caused when new strains of the virus begin circulating among humans, the death toll can rise dramatically.
According to stats released by GEMA, the 1918 pandemic caused by Spanish Flu killed more than 500,000 people in the U.S., and scientists estimate that it killed up to 50 million people worldwide.