{"id":1934,"date":"2024-11-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=1934"},"modified":"2024-11-14T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T10:00:00","slug":"as-california-taps-pandemic-stockpile-for-bird-flu-officials-keep-close-eye-on-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/?p=1934","title":{"rendered":"As California Taps Pandemic Stockpile for Bird Flu, Officials Keep Close Eye on Spending"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 California public health officials are dipping into state and federal stockpiles to equip up to 10,000 farmworkers with masks, gloves, goggles, and other safety gear as the state confirms at least 21 human cases<\/a> of bird flu as of early November. It\u2019s the latest reminder of the state\u2019s struggle to remain prepared amid multibillion-dollar deficits.<\/p>\n

Officials said they began distributing more than 2 million pieces of personal protective equipment in late May, four months before the first human case was confirmed in the state. They said they began ramping up coordination with local health officials in April after bird flu was first detected in cattle in the U.S. Bird flu has now been confirmed at more than 270 dairies<\/a> in central California, and traces were recently detected at a wastewater sampling site in Los Angeles County. Bird flu was also recently detected in a flock of commercial turkeys<\/a> in Sacramento County.<\/p>\n

California is putting a number of lessons from the covid-19 pandemic to use, such as coordinating emergency response with local health officials and tracking infectious diseases through wastewater surveillance<\/a>, as the state tries to limit the spread of bird flu to humans. It\u2019s striving to maintain an adequate emergency stockpile to withstand the first wave of any new public health disaster without hemorrhaging the state budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are far better prepared to respond to a pandemic than we were in 2020,\u201d said Amy Palmer, a spokesperson for the Governor\u2019s Office of Emergency Services.<\/p>\n

For instance, before the coronavirus struck in 2020, the state\u2019s emergency supplies stockpile was barely big enough to crowd two basketball courts.<\/p>\n

By the time California ramped up its pandemic response, it had enough personal protective equipment and other disaster supplies to fill 52 football fields. California spent $15.6 billion on direct pandemic response during the covid crisis years, much of it provided by the federal government.<\/p>\n

Today, the stockpile fits into about 12\u00bd football fields, though it can seesaw from month to month.<\/p>\n

According to the state, the current stockpile includes 101 million face masks, 26 million more than the 90-day supply recommended by the state\u2019s pandemic preparedness guideline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That includes 88 million N95 masks, more than the emergency services agency said was needed last year. The high-efficiency masks are considered crucial to protect against airborne viruses such as covid-19.<\/p>\n

Although the state is building up its stockpile, Palmer could not say if the additional masks are related to fears of bird flu, only that planners are always working \u201cto keep pace with the current risk environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s goal, Palmer said, is to have \u201can initial supply during emergencies to allow us the time to secure resources,\u201d whether through the federal government or by buying more.<\/p>\n

There is no indication of spread between humans in the recent California bird flu cases, and health officials say public risk remains low. Human transmission of bird flu is among several worst-case scenarios<\/a> for a new pandemic, alongside the possibility of a resurgent mutant coronavirus; wider international spread of mpox, Marburg virus, or Ebola; or an entirely new virus for which there initially is no immunity or vaccine.<\/p>\n

Yet, health officials nationwide have struggled to track<\/a> bird flu transmission. And California has a history of swinging back and forth on preparedness.<\/p>\n

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered an increase<\/a> in California\u2019s pandemic preparedness in 2006 in response to an earlier threat from bird flu. That included three mobile hospitals that could immediately be deployed during disasters.<\/p>\n

Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, ended the program<\/a> in 2011 as state finances went bust. By the time covid struck, the state released 21 million N95 masks, some so old they were past their expiration<\/a> date.<\/p>\n

Now hospitals are required to maintain their own three-month supply of masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment under a state law<\/a> passed in 2020. California\u2019s aerosol transmissible disease standard<\/a> also uniquely requires hospitals and other high-risk workplaces to follow precautions such as using negative pressure isolation rooms and the highest level of protective equipment until more is known about a new pathogen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to overstate the level of unpreparedness exhibited by hospitals both in and outside of California in dealing with the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19,\u201d according to a legislative analysis. \u201cHarrowing images of nurses walking the corridors of hospitals in makeshift masks and garbage bags became commonplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Hospital Association spokesperson Jan Emerson-Shea said hospitals \u201ccontinuously prepare to respond to all types of disasters, including outbreaks of transmissible viruses.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Palmer said California has five mobile hospitals acquired from the federal government, though they got little use<\/a> during the pandemic. She said they have to be maintained, such as making sure pulse oximeters have working batteries.<\/p>\n

But, once again, the current deficit has the state trying to strike a balance.<\/p>\n

While lawmakers rejected most of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s $300 million proposed cut<\/a> to public health funding, the state slashed funding for its stockpile of personal protective equipment by one-third a year ago after it determined that no additional covid-related purchases were necessary, according to the Department of Finance. California eliminated funding this year for eight 53-foot-long trailers that would have moved stockpiled items between warehouses. It\u2019s also cutting nearly $40 million over the next four years from its $175 million disaster stockpile budget.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s preparedness wasn\u2019t good enough for Californians Against Pandemics<\/a>, which gathered more than 1 million signatures to put a ballot measure before voters in November. The measure<\/a> would have increased taxes on people with incomes over $5 million and used that money for pandemic prevention and response.<\/p>\n

But that effort collapsed<\/a> after one of its key financial supporters, former cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted of defrauding customers and investors. In exchange for initiative backers dropping the measure, state officials agreed<\/a> to broaden the scope of the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, which was created in 2015<\/a> to focus on developing new medicines and therapies, to include technologies for preventing another pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy harnessing the power of precision medicine, California is moving to the forefront of pandemic preparedness and prevention,\u201d Newsom said at the time.<\/p>\n

Rodger Butler, a spokesperson for the state Health and Human Services Agency, said it\u2019s unclear if the precision medicine initiative will receive additional funding.<\/p>\n

This article was produced by <\/em>KFF Health News<\/em><\/a>, which publishes <\/em>California Healthline<\/em><\/a>, an editorially independent service of the <\/em>California Health Care Foundation<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n

This story can be republished for free (details<\/a>).<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 California public health officials are dipping into state and federal stockpiles to equip up to 10,000 farmworkers with masks, gloves, goggles, and other safety gear as the state confirms at least 21 human cases of bird flu as of early November. It\u2019s the latest reminder of the state\u2019s struggle to remain prepared…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medical-article.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}