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Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and All Hazards Planning

Update on Flu Pandemic Planning

This is the second in a series of updates and advisories on flu pandemic planning that you will be receiving periodically from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Update: Use of School Facilities as Hospital Influenza Specialty Care Units

The unique challenges of pandemic flu and the potential for widespread illness require us to build response capacity in the healthcare system that is unprecedented. A flu pandemic will stress the healthcare sector well beyond its existing potential to provide care to the sick.

Therefore, all Massachusetts acute care hospitals have been directed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to evaluate potential sites in their area where they could, with the assistance of the state and local preparedness partners, provide inpatient care to flu patients.

These Influenza Specialty Care Units (ISCUs) will be licensed as satellite facilities of the hospital, and will be utilized for approximately 2-4 weeks, if needed, to provide screening of outpatients, and for the care of flu patients that do not meet the criteria for hospital admission, but who are too sick to be cared for at home. In the event of activation, staff and equipment will be provided.

Because school buildings meet many of the criteria for such a facility (eg food preparation and dining facilities, adequate restrooms, and large open rooms that can hold a number of patients in a single space), you may be contacted by your local hospital to discuss the feasibility of identifying buildings in your district, in an emergency, as an ISCU.

If you are contacted by a local hospital regarding possible use of school facilities in your district for this purpose, we urge you to cooperate in the planning to the extent feasible It is important that you bear in mind that if the impact of a pandemic is such that we need to provide hospital level care in school buildings or other such facilities, there will be a declaration of a public health emergency and appropriate guidance from the state.

If a school building in your district is designated as an ISCU, it will be important to have a plan for temporary re-assignment of the students and staff in that facility to another building or alternate educational site in the event that the ISCU is activated.

If you have any questions about ISCUs being designated in your area, you may contact your local hospital's emergency planning coordinator or Dr. Lisa Stone, Hospital Preparedness Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, (617) 624-5282 (office), (617) 908- 9001 (NEXTEL) or at Lisa.Stone@state.ma.us.

Update: School Closings in the Event of a Flu Pandemic

At this time, scientists and public health officials around the world have not come to any hard and fast conclusions about how to try to slow the progress of a flu pandemic when it arrives. They are working on models to meet various possible scenarios, and programmed school closings are one possible method under consideration. At this time, we are not anticipating the need for lengthy school closings, but we will keep you posted on the latest thinking on the subject. We are focusing now on what might trigger a school closing and what steps state and local authorities would take to carry out the plan.

Update: Regional Conferences on Flu Pandemic Preparedness

Since our last communication with you on this subject, some of you participated in one of five regional flu pandemic planning conferences that were held around the state early this summer.

These meetings brought together hundreds of representatives of municipal government, primary and secondary education, higher education, business and industry, civic, faith and community organizations, hospitals and healthcare providers, and regional emergency preparedness coalitions involving local health and public safety officials to be briefed on the pandemic threat and how to prepare continuity of operations plans.

See a report of the proceedings at http://www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/epii/flu/pandemic.htm and note the featured link to the ESE Pandemic Influenza and All Hazards Planning website (http://www.doe.mass.edu/pandemic/) for information and tools that can help your school system prepare.

Update: Regional Exercises of Continuity of Operations Plans

In order to further strengthen the Commonwealth's ability to respond effectively to a pandemic flu event, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), the Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS), and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), is planning a series of "tabletop" exercises to practice implementation of our Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs) at the local level across the state.

DPH and MEMA will be hosting approximately 26 regional tabletop exercises across the Commonwealth to enhance and integrate state and local pandemic plans during October and early November. Community and state college campuses are being considered as potential locations for these exercises. HSPH has designed the master exercise scenario and is creating a web-based course that will provide municipalities and other local stakeholders with a baseline of pre-requisite information in advance of the tabletops.

Each event will have between 100-200 participants, and invitations to participate in these exercises will be coordinated jointly by MEMA, DPH, and our municipal boards of health.

Reminder: PK-12 Continuity of Operations Planning

In order to participate in any local or regional exercise of emergency preparedness, it will be necessary for each school district to have a flu pandemic Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP). We see this as an essential adjunct to your district's Multi-Hazard Evacuation Plan, and urge you to familiarize yourself with the Department of Public Health's Influenza Pandemic Planning Flyer at MDPH Pandemic Planning Flyer 01/2006 and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's sample checklist for school districts at School District (K-12) Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist [ - 99KB].

Update: Statewide Public Information Campaign: "Flu Facts - What You Need to Know"

With the regular flu season approaching, and concern rising around the world that avian/bird flu may mutate from a version that affects primarily birds to one that can spread rapidly and easily among humans, DPH is developing a statewide public information campaign regarding the flu.

"Flu Facts: What You Need to Know" will be rolled out this fall and is aimed at educating the public regarding what flu is and simple things that they can do to help protect themselves and their families from getting it.

The campaign, in conjunction with local and regional media outlets, will consist of a broadly advertised flu information website and print and broadcast media messages. We will be asking you, as the education leader of your district, school, or collaborative, to help us communicate the campaign message to your staff, students, and parents.

Posters and a downloadable coloring book for elementary school students high-lighting the steps families can take to protect themselves from seasonal influenza, bird flu or a pandemic flu will be available. For middle and high school students we'll have resources for teachers to help them incorporate flu education and prevention tips into existing health and social studies curriculum. Staff from DPH will be available for assistance in planning school assemblies. All this information will be available by October 4th at www.mass.gov/dph/flu/ and http://www.doe.mass.edu/pandemic/resources.html.

We value and appreciate your involvement in this important task, and we plan to stay in regular contact with you as the planning process proceeds. Please feel free to contact ESE Associate Commissioner John Bynoe at jbynoe@doe.mass.edu or DPH Assistant Commissioner Kathy Atkinson at Kathy.Atkinson@state.ma.us if you have any questions.