# 838
A really good article from the Sacramento Bee on the steps that California is taking to prepare for a pandemic, despite a couple of lapses on the reporter's part. The story speaks of 1/2 million deaths in the United States, and up to 2 million hospitalized.
While no one can know what the mortality and morbidity of the next pandemic will be, Federal officials (who may be underestimating it) are working under the assumption that we'd see 2 million deaths, and 10 million hospitalized.
California is taking good steps on the State and local levels to prepare for a pandemic. Not enough, perhaps, but far better than most states.
Unfortunately, citizen awareness and preparation appear to be as non-existent there, as it is everywhere else in the nation.
Pandemic
California is out front in trying to prepare for disaster
By Deb Kollars - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, June 3, 2007
lf a worldwide influenza pandemic were to strike -- and global health experts warn that it is inevitable -- a medical nightmare could unfold:
A half million deaths in the United States alone. Two million hospitalizations. Patients suffering on cots in the hallways. Nurses too sick to come to work. Shortages of medicines, sheets and face masks. And at every turn, haunting questions.
An 80-year-old man lies in a hospital bed, so sick he needs a ventilator to breathe. A 16-year-old boy arrives with the same flu. Without a ventilator, he will die. But there are no more. What should the doctors do?
It is horrible to contemplate, but the state of California is doing just that. While national health experts worry that the public has lost interest in the pending threat over the past year, California health officials are taking unprecedented steps to prepare for the possibility.
"It's a scary thought, just like an 8.0 Richter scale earthquake is a scary thought, and we need to prepare," said Dr. Mark Horton.
As California's public health officer, he is helping direct a $172 million ramp-up of the state's "surge" capacity, which means the ability to handle huge waves of people needing medical help in a pandemic or other disaster.
It is a monumental effort, one no other state has come close to matching.
In recent months, the Department of Health Services has been stockpiling 51 million protective masks in warehouses throughout the state, and has lined up 8 million courses of antiviral medicines. The agency bought 2,400 ventilators, and three fully equipped mobile field hospitals. On Friday, the state issued a purchase order for 21,000 hospital beds -- each with its own stash of linens and pharmaceuticals -- for use at alternate care sites.
And in a move being watched nationwide, a global consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is writing guidelines for medical providers to be used in an emergency such as a pandemic. They will be finished by the end of this month.
Jeffrey Levi is the executive director of the Trust for America's Health, a public health advocacy group that has lamented the lack of pandemic preparation across the country. He called California's efforts "extraordinary."
"In a major pandemic, no states have the medical capacity they need," Levi said. "But California is among the most -- if not the most -- aggressive in trying to address these issues."
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