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By Dr. Darrell Dantzler, faculty member, Emergency and Disaster Management at American Military University

On January 30, the World Health Organization (WHO) determined the novel coronavirus, formally known as 2019-nCoV, posed an international risk and declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and a global health emergency, a designation only declared five times previously.

The number of diagnosed 2019-nCoV cases has surpassed SARS cases, including the first known human-to-human spread of the new virus in the United States.

[Related: CDC to Announce First Case of Wuhan Coronavirus Found in US]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects many more cases, largely due to the viruss ability to spread from person to person.

However, despite these designations and concerns from health experts, the 2019-nCoV is not classified as a pandemic; although that is subject to change based on the rate of human-to-human transmissions and determination of the lethality of the virus.

[Related: Flu Season and Pandemic Planning: Ethical Approaches to Epidemic Response]

It is critical that state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) emergency managers, public health professionals, and other public safety professionals understand global and national comprehensive emergency management strategies for handling a pandemic outbreak. They include how these strategies affect them and their SLTT emergency management initiatives.

The WHOs primary role is to direct and coordinate international health within the United Nations system. The WHOs goals during the 2019-nCoV outbreak are to strengthen global diagnostic capacity and improve surveillance, early detection, and capabilities to track the spread of disease. WHO lists the following six strategic objectives for responding to the 2019-nCoV:

WHO has implemented a three-pronged approach to enhance the diagnostic capacity for 2019-nCoV:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mission is to enhance and protect the health and well-being of Americans by providing effective health and human services and by fostering advances in medicine, public health, and social services. The secretary of HHS is vested with the authority to act to protect public health and welfare, declare a public health emergency, and prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. The CDC, within the HHS, is the nations health protection agency and the leading national public health institute in the country.

HHS developed seven domains in its Pandemic Influenza Plan to thwart a severe worldwide event. Although 2019-nCoV has not reached the pandemic threshold yet, its important to understand the Pandemic Influenza Plans seven domains, which details areas where capabilities can be optimized:

Regarding the 2019-nCoV, the CDC has accomplished the following strategic response objectives:

At this point, most SLTTs have reviewed and put into place their comprehensive emergency management plan, including the Pandemic annex and the Emergency Support Functions (ESF), including ESF #8, as well as companion ESFs.

SLTT public safety professionals should monitor the global and national climate, along with maintaining situational awareness in their jurisdiction. The director of the HHS stated, (t)he playbook for responding to an infectious disease outbreak is relatively simple: You monitor and communicate, identify cases, isolate the people, diagnose them, and treat them. Then you track down all of the contacts of the infected person, and you do the same with those people, and the same with contacts of contacts if necessary. This is often easier said than done, as virus outbreaks foster volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environments that require immense coordination. Communication and social distancing are among challenges that SLTT public safety official encounter.

Communication

The goal of communication before, during, and after VUCA events like 2019-nCoV is to provide and share accurate and relevant information with the public, partners, and stakeholders, so that well-informed decisions are made that protect the publics health and safety.

Social medial is a double-edged sword when communicating during disease outbreaks. Currently, hoaxes about the coronavirus have spread faster than the actual virus on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Some examples include Bill Gates being responsible for the virus; the Chinese created a weaponized version of coronavirus and lost control of it; drinking bleach keeps the virus away; coronavirus will cause the zombie apocalypse; parents have abandoned their children in an airport; FEMA proposes martial law to contain the coronavirus; and the US patented a vaccine years ago for the coronavirus.

Misinformation about disease outbreaks is even harder to control because of intense public interest, fear, lack of credible information, and the unknown. The WHO has actively sought to discredit misinformation and has responded to rumors through myth busting on WHOs social media channels and website.

The CDC indicated that the right message at the right time from the right person can save lives. The health agency implemented a six-step crisis communication plan that SLTT public safety agencies can employ to improve communication:

Social Distancing

If a 2019-nCoV outbreak is found in a SLTT jurisdiction, public safety managers can mitigate person-to-person transmission through social distancing. Social distancing is when public health officials restrict when and where people can congregate in order to stop or slow down the spread of a highly contagious. These social distancing measures have a considerable effect on the community; therefore, actions must be coordinated among all stakeholders including city leaders, federal partners, police departments, business, and schools.

Below are some examples of social distancing that can be used to control the spread of 2019-nCoV. Its important for SLTT emergency managers to remember that civil liberties must be balanced with public health.

In summary, the global and national strategies for controlling and eradicating pandemics or the 2019-nCoV directly impacts the strategies at the SLTT jurisdictional levels. Public safety officials should understand the global and national climate to better prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from a potential pandemic in their jurisdiction.

Additionally, SLTT public safety officials must understand crisis communication and ensure their jurisdictions have the most updated and accurate information. Lastly, when determining social distancing strategies, civil liberties must be balance with public health.

About the Author: Dr. Darrell Dantzler is a faculty member at American Military University, teaching courses in Emergency & Disaster Management. He is also the Director of the Fire Protection Analysis and Field Engineering Division within the Office of Fire Protection in the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations at the US Department of State. Darrell brings more than 35 years of experience in Disaster and Emergency Management Planning and Response. He is a 20-year United States Air Force Veteran and a 15-year public servant with the Department of State. At State, he conducted fire assessments, fire investigations, and special emergency management assessments in over 70 countries. Darrell graduated from the National Preparedness on Leadership Initiative, Executive Education Leadership Program at Harvard Universitys T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvards Kennedy School of Government. He is a Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers. Darrell holds a Ph.D. in Public Safety Leadership with a specialization in Disaster and Emergency Management. To contact the author, email IPSauthor@apus.edu. For more articles featuring insight from industry experts, subscribe to In Public Safetys bi-monthly newsletter.

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Impact of Global and National Coronavirus Strategy on the SLTT Response - In Public Safety

This entry was posted on February 8, 2020 at 3:46 am and is filed under Legal Issues Genetic Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |