Safety

Pandemic drills help with quick decision-making

Emergency Management Alert, April 1, 2008

Recent pandemic influenza response exercises have helped the CDC improve its tools for making policy decisions quickly, according to a report from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.

 

As part of a large-scale pandemic drill in March, the CDC set up a "planning cell" of leaders who did not have to respond immediately to events as they unfolded, but could think carefully about policy issues raised by the emergency, CDC officials told CIDRAP. The group made a noticeable impact on the CDC's ability to make decisions in a crisis, a senior official said.

 

The March 11 and 12 exercise was the fourth in a series of drills and featured a simulated emerging U.S. epidemic sparked by a traveler from Southeast Asia infected with a mutated avian flu virus. The exercise focused on days six, seven, and eight of the crisis, during which cases of the disease and fatalities increased. During the exercise, states sought guidance from the CDC on when to close schools and take other steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

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