Building on the significant progress states already have made in planning for the medical and public health responses to a potential pandemic influenza outbreak, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), convened officials from the upper-Midwest today in the first of a series of regional workshops designed to assess and enhance overall state and regional pandemic preparedness.
State, local and private sector officials from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin engaged in a variety of exercises, including a "tabletop" simulation, to improve communications among state, federal and local agencies; examine existing response protocols; and identify effective strategies for ensuring states can continue providing essential services to their citizens when confronted with a pandemic.
Addressing participants prior to the workshop, NGA Vice Chair Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty remarked, "Aggressive and comprehensive planning at the state level is essential. While the focus over the next day and half will be on pandemic preparedness, your efforts here will pay dividends in terms of our preparedness for all kinds of threats, whether they are disease outbreaks, natural disasters or terrorist attacks."
"NGA has shown strong leadership by appointing its chair and vice chair as the lead governors on preparedness, and I would like to thank Governors Napolitano and Pawlenty for hosting the first two exercises," said Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services. "The federal government has an important role to play, but it is our partnership with the states that will make us successful against future pandemics."
A pandemic will affect virtually all sectors of society, mandating that officials not only contain the outbreak itself, but also ensure the availability of essential services. HHS estimates even a moderately severe pandemic could cause more than 200,000 deaths in the U.S., with nearly 130,000 Americans requiring intensive medical care and 65,000 needing mechanical ventilators. Worker absenteeism could affect operation of power plants and water treatment, law enforcement and medical facilities. Reductions in delivery services could cause food shortages and schools could close, increasing the numbers of absent workers as parents stay home to care for their children.
To help states better prepare for a pandemic, the NGA Center last year released Preparing for a Pandemic Influenza: A Primer for Governors and Senior State Officials. The report examines key issues governors and their top officials may face should a pandemic occur. Among its recommendations, the report encourages states to perform training exercises to assess current capabilities and explore effective operations for incident response. According to the report, "Initiating even the most basic exercises now will save lives during a future incident."
The report's recommendations, as well as the NGA pandemic workshop series, reflect the priorities identified at last year's state summits hosted by the nation's governors and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.
