Tabletop Exercise Sick Ticket

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Tabletop Exercise Sick Ticket
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Table Top

• Bio Terrorism Scenario
• Designed to demonstrate interagency communication
  requirements.
• Assume your traditional role.
• Who will play Local Emergency Manager Role?
• Who will play the CDC role.

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Sick Ticket

• Yesterday - A Philippines Air flight with 262 on
  board takes off from Manila.
• During the flight, the flight crew reported that
  an individual was sick during the flight.
• The young man (Sick Ticket) appeared to be
  feverish and tired but declined medical
  attention.
• 500 AM - The plane lands at LAX
• A few red spots were noted on Sick Tickets face
  as he walked down the jet way.

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Sick Ticket Monday Morning

• 510 AM - The flight crew discussed the situation
  and decide to notify local officials
• 515 AM After walking through the International
  Terminal, the sick man takes a cab to a nearby
  hotel and checks in.
• 520 AM LA EOC is notified
• 630 AM Sick Tickets symptoms worsen while he
  remains in his room.

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Sick Ticket Monday Morning

• 730 AM local news reports begin t mention
  concerns raised at LAX about the sick person.
• 800 AM local expert on Channel 4 mentions that
  he is concerned that it could have been smallpox.
  
• 815 AM Local officials acknowledge that they
  are looking for Sick Ticket.

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Questions

• You heard the news what are you going to do?
• Where will you turn for information?
• What do you need to know?
• What actions will you take?

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Sick Ticket

• 1027 AM Local police track down Sick Ticket to
  a local hotel. He is taken into custody and
  taken to an isolation ward at a local hospital.
• 134 PM News Flash - CDC confirms a smallpox
  diagnosis and that hundreds of people could have
  been exposed.
• 200 PM - Public concerns begins to mount.

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Sick Ticket Monday Afternoon

• 300 PM - Emergency rooms begin to crowd with
  patients concerned about smallpox.
• You are having difficulty getting information
  because phone lines are down from overuse.
• The city is relatively calm, although you have
  heard on TV that many people are fleeing the
  area.
• Public Health officials are trying to track down
  all passengers on the PA flight.

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Sick Ticket Monday Evening

• Local news media are reporting constant news and
  comments on smallpox.
• Hospitals have activated their disaster plans to
  cope with increased demand on services.
• The CDC wants to begin rapid vaccination program
  of all persons that have come into contact with
  the identified smallpox patients as well as
  health care workers.

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Questions

• You heard the news what are you going to do?
• Where will you turn for information?
• What do you need to know?
• What actions will you take?

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Sick Ticket _ Tuesday Morning

• The CDC implements a ring vaccination strategy
  for containing the outbreak.
• This includes isolation of confirmed and
  suspected smallpox cases.
• Vaccinating and monitoring a ring of people
  around each case and contact
• Areas around infected persons are cordoned off.
• Many roadblocks are set up.
• People are required to stay in businesses or
  homes.

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Sick Ticket Considerations

• Exaggerated accounts of illness are reported by
  the media.
• Citizens begin to clamor for vaccine, but only
  10 of the estimated needs are available.
• Police departments, local utility companies and
  mass transit authorities begin to have severe
  personnel shortages, resulting in severe
  disruption of routine services.

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Sick Ticket - Considerations

• Hospitals and outpatient clinics are severely
  short-staffed - the majority of physicians,
  nurses and other health-care workers are ill.
• Intensive care units at local hospitals become
  overwhelmed.
• Looting becomes a serious problem due to
  shortages of police officers.
• LAX closes because of high absenteeism among air
  traffic controllers.

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Questions

• What are you going to do?
• Where will you turn for information?
• What do you need to know?
• What actions will you take?