Preparing for a Pandemic
(Virginia)

It's a nightmare scenario that health officials say we're overdue for. Pandemic outbreaks of illness have happened regularly throughout history.
Now, Virginia's trying to prepare, including looking at the impacts to emergency responders.
Here's the scenario they're looking at: Four weeks ago an Olympic athlete returned to the U.S. after an extended stay in China. He died five days later in a Washington hospital, a victim of the H7N3 strain of the flu. Since then, thirty more cases have cropped up. All are people who had contact with him on the plane. In a matter of days, cities around the country report infections. It reaches pandemic level, ultimately affecting a third of our population.
This scenario, of course, hasn't happened. But, it's something that has health officials concerned, including what would happen to first responders in a case like this.
Rockingham County Fire and Rescue Chief Robbie Symons will soon be testing the plans for emergency workers in this worst-case scenario.
"We do anticipate a third of employees won't be able to go in," says Symons. "We anticipate there to be volunteers that won't be able to respond. And that's one of the questions that, as we work through our plans...to be honest with you, we haven't quite answered that."
Doctor Diane Woolard is the director of the Division of Surveillance and Investigation at the Virginia Department of Health.
"We don't know when it will happen. We don't know where it will happen. We don't know what form of the flu virus will hit us. But, we do believe a pandemic of influenza will happen at some point," says Woolard, an epidemiologist. "We haven't had one since 1957. We feel like we're overdue."
In a pandemic, about six times as many people are affected compared to a regular flu season. The Health Department's Steve Harrison is organizing the scenario that several localities will go through next week. It's meant to test just how prepared Virginia is.
"Pandemic influenza is not only a public health event," says Harrison, assistant director of operations, planning, and logistics for the Health Department. "It will affect all segments of society."
That includes emergency workers we all depend on.
"If a fire or EMS agency lacks the resources to respond to calls, how are we going to accommodate that situation?" asks Harrison.
Chief Symons says one step the county's already taken is forming partnerships with neighboring areas. Symons says, "There's no way any one community can survive or exist to provide the type of servicing to citizens without the help from other people."
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