Utah pursues preparedness in a pandemic
It's a sobering statistic but one that Utah's top disaster responders, along with leaders from the business, medical and volunteer services communities, are pondering a lot these days, along with dozens of other questions:
What services will be considered essential if 40 percent of the work force is unable to report to work? Who will decide if schools should be closed? What will happen if they must be closed for months rather than weeks? The state's plan currently allows for enough antiviral for about 23 percent of the state's population — who would get it?
In August, Gov. Jon Huntsman appointed a Task Force for Pandemic Influenza Preparedness to revise the state's plan, promote community education and act as a catalyst for legislative action that would improve the state's response to a major public health emergency.
"It was our intent to include a large swath of the community. Because this is not just a state challenge, it's a local and private sector challenge," said David Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health.
Members of the task force include emergency responders, community advocates, religious leaders, hospital administrators, tribal leaders, volunteer organizers and educators.
They have met four times, with two more meetings scheduled before they pass their recommendations on to the governor sometime in February.
Utah faces some hurdles in its pandemic plan.
The federal government is offering to subsidize state stockpiles of antivirals, paying 25 percent of the cost and asking states to come up with the remainder. The state had to indicate its interest and asked for a full allotment, which would cover about 23 percent of the state, at a cost to the state of $3.6 million. But in his budget released Tuesday, the governor allocated $1 million for the purchase of antivirals.
The money, which could change before it is approved by the Legislature, is a good start and will give the state a stockpile that will make it available beyond pandemic first responders, such as health care and emergency workers, said Robert Rolfs, state epidemiologist.
Under the federal contract with the match, the state has 18 months to come up with Utah's cost, making it possible for the state to come up with more money in next year's budget, he said.
Another area where the Utah falls short is in hospital bed capacity.
The state has about 4,900 hospital beds and the staff to handle about 4,500 of them.
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