December 29, 2006

County Report

County prepares for pandemic influenza; board takes action

By Supervisor Pete McHugh
Special to the Times

Recently, the Board of Supervisors allocated $2.5 million toward Santa Clara County’s Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan for fiscal year 2007. This amount is one portion of the total amount that it will cost to fully implement the Plan over the next several years.

The Board took this action because the world is currently at Pandemic Alert, which is phase three of the World Health Organization’s six-phase pandemic influenza classification system. The Plan strives to protect the public’s health during a pandemic by limiting the number of people affected by the virus, and to maintain essential government services and minimize the pandemic’s significant social and economic impacts. The Board believes that this Plan will mitigate the potential severity of a pandemic influenza in Santa Clara County.

Pandemic influenza is a worldwide outbreak of disease that occurs when a new influenza virus emerges in the human population. It causes serious illness and spreads easily. There have been three influenza pandemics over the last century. Currently, our status of Pandemic Alert means that a circulating animal influenza virus that poses substantial risk of human disease has been identified, such as avian flu in birds. Human infections are occurring but human-to-human spread has not yet occurred. The next phases would include having small, and then larger clusters of human infection, leading to an increased and sustained transmission in the general population. The federal government has stated that should a pandemic occur every local community will need to rely on its own planning and resources to fight the outbreak.

The County has made a concerted effort in developing a local response plan. The Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan aims to develop a coordinated countywide strategy through shared responsibility. The Plan serves as a planning guide for the Public Health Department (PHD) and other county departments to prepare and respond to a pandemic. The $2.5 million that the Board allocated goes toward training staff, public awareness and education, medical supplies for Influenza Care Centers, and supplies and equipment for County employees and vulnerable community populations. At this time, the PHD has not determined the total cost of full implementation but will present a multi-phase plan to address a pandemic.

The Plan includes eight sections that provide information on how to prepare now and how to react when a pandemic is declared. The Plan has the following major issues:

Relevant legal issues in situations when isolation and quarantine are needed, and to protect County workers and volunteers as disaster service workers.

Necessary surveillance and reporting by providers and hospitals to ensure early detection of the first cases of pandemic influenza.

Issues such as social distancing, travel restrictions and how all of these protective measures would be enforced.

The risk communications plan for the public, media, health care professionals and key partners.

The Mental Health Department’s plans for psychosocial support for patients and caregivers in care centers as well as at home.

In the spring of 2007, the PHD will conduct a follow-up public awareness and education campaign. The PHD has available on its website copies of its Guide and the full Plan, as well as several informational fact sheets. Given the immense impact that a pandemic can have, the County’s efforts to plan for a potential outbreak is essential. I encourage you to learn more about the County’s pandemic influenza preparedness and response efforts, and actions that you can take to prepare for a pandemic, by visiting the Public Health Department’s website at www.sccphd.org.