City bracing for H1N1 outbreak

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: September 12, 2009 12:00 PM

Cases of the H1N1 virus could climb this winter, and that has the City of Vernon taking action. On Monday, council will be asked to consider a pandemic influenza plan developed by staff. “If you listen to health offices, H1N1 will be a problem this fall,” said Mayor Wayne Lippert. “Hopefully we don’t have a pandemic by taking precautions ahead of time.”

In his report to council, emergency preparedness co-ordinator Brent Watson says human swine flu could return this fall in a more virulent form.“Concurrently, other flu strains could emerge in human populations with relatively little advance notice,” he said. “With anticipated pandemic staff absenteeism rates as high as 50 per cent, it is essential that the city have a plan in place to ensure the continuity of core services and to reduce the risk to employees.” The plan calls for each city department to identity staff whose skills are critical to the continued delivery of service.If there is a pandemic, some options for the city are to have staff work from home, reduce staffing levels to minimize potential exposure and spread, eliminate face-to-face meetings and enhance cleaning and disinfection in common areas. The plan also states it may be necessary to limit staff contact with the public by suspending front counter services and gatherings in civic facilities.“It may be advisable to control access to the city’s public buildings and enforce security measures if public fear and anxiety occurs. Physical perimeter security may also need enhancing if the main and/or other city buildings must be closed for an extended period of time.”

The report also considers anti-viral drugs. “As part of the planning process, an anti-viral priority number is assigned to each department/division based on their impact on the city’s continuity of services. This is to assign priority to different departments/divisions in the likely event that anti-viral medications are in limited supply,” it states. Among the city functions deemed to be priority are council, administration, fire, RCMP, the cemetery and the water utility. Those given a low priority are recreation services, tourism, planning and engineering. While council must still debate the plan, Lippert is in full support.

“We need to have something in place and have people to run the city,” he said, pointing to preparations the Vernon Army Camp had developed in case of an H1N1 outbreak, which occurred this summer. “They were able to carry on with the problem.”