Virginia prepares for a pandemic flu outbreak

By Karen McNew
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: November 20, 2008

Thousands of boxes of the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu are stockpiled in a Virginia warehouse. The location is so secure that WSLS 10 On Your Side is not allowed to give the specific location. The medicine may be the ultimate health insurance for people across the state in the event of a pandemic flu.

Retired Colonel Bob Mauskaupf with the Virginia Department of Health says a pandemic flu would be catastrophic. One virus that has been watched closely and may one day lead to a pandemic is Avian Influenza, also known as Bird Flu.

A bird flu pandemic wouldn’t just be about people getting sick. It’s about people dying. As WSLS researched this story we found that according to the World Health Organization, since 2003 there have been 387 cases of avian flu in people and 245 of those people died.

Mauskaupf who heads up Virginia’s Pandemic Operations confirms that percentage has gone up, “It has risen from 49% to 63 percent…it is it’s a nasty bug.”

Right now, the world is in stage three which means the avian flu has been passed from animals to people. A few years ago stories dominated local and national news because of the fear of what might happen next.

Mauskaupf says, “If a flu virus like the bird flu virus the h5n1 were to morph into a form that was transmissible person to person we would go into stage 4.”

Then, our state and federal government will move forward and start the process for distributing Tamiflu and other supplies to people in local communities. The secure warehouse we toured has enough Tamiflu for 775 thousand Virginians in the event of a pandemic flu. The VDH would be able to get more from the federal government if needed. Tamiflu will be distributed to 600 locations across the state and the aim of the VDH is to make sure you don’t have to drive more than twelve miles to the nearest location.

But Mauskaupf cautions, “We shouldn’t depend on drugs as the only answer.“

No we shouldn’t because according to the Virginia Department of Health’s informational video about pandemic flu, people who are relatively healthy will not be the first to get Tamiflu which reduces the severity of symptoms when taken at the first signs of sickness. Healthcare workers and those at highest risk for complications will get it first.

Mass flu vaccine clinics have been held across the state as a way of practicing in the in the event of a pandemic. But, we wouldn’t have a vaccine until 4 to 6 months after the outbreak.

While many scientists insist the flu pandemic of 1918 that killed millions across the world and more than 15 thousand people in Virginia is a piece of history that will be repeated, Mauskaupf says Virginia is prepared, ”We’re rated 100 percent by CDC, us and California… the only two in the country.”

Link to more information about tracking Avian Flu

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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